A CNN contributor said on Thursday she was surprised to hear from Arab-Americans that they are not supporting Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
“I’ve been talking to people in the business sector, in the Arab-American community, and I was really surprised this week to get an earful, to hear them say that they would much rather either vote a third party, not vote at all or vote for Donald Trump,” foreign affairs analyst Reena Ninan said.
Ninan said that the polling of Arab-American support of former President Trump and Vice President Harris is “neck and neck,” but added, “I cannot find one Arab-American within my social circle in business or personally who have said that they will vote for Kamala Harris,” while acknowledging it’s “not, obviously, a significant sample size.”
President Biden and Harris have faced pressure from the Arab and Muslim community in the U.S. to implement a ceasefire in Gaza ever since the Israel-Hamas war began over a year ago. Muslim and Arab-Americans protested Biden in the Michigan Democratic primary earlier this year by voting “uncommitted.”
Harris has said she supports Israel’s right to defend itself and would not withhold weapons from the country, but has also called for a ceasefire, expressing hope that the killing of Hamas terror chief Yahya Sinwar could create an opportunity to end the war in Gaza.
Trump recently said he is Israel’s “protector” and reaffirmed his support for the Jewish state.
According to Ninan, “What [Arab-Americans] are saying, and this is not a Donald Trump campaign line … that Tiffany Trump’s father-in-law, who’s a Lebanese businessman, has been successful in kind of converting and talking to people to explain why Trump would be better, even with the Muslim ban, even with everything else that has happened.”
She went on to say of Arab-Americans, “They feel they do not have any political clout. They don’t have any political operation. The only political power they have is their vote, even if it means the rise of Donald Trump.”
“That’s extraordinary,” CNN host Abby Phillip replied. “That’s extraordinary.”
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Recent data from the Arab American Institute shows Muslim voters across the country being virtually tied between Harris and former President Donald Trump. Harris held a single-point edge against the former president.
