American Muslims overwhelmingly support Obama: Poll

 

American Muslims overwhelmingly support President Barack Obama in his re-election bid, according to a new poll. 

Sixty-eight per cent of the respondents said they will vote to re-elect Obama, while only seven per cent said they will vote for his Republican rival Mitt Romney, the poll released by Council on American-Islamic Relations. 

The poll, conducted by an independent research firm on behalf of the Washington-based CAIR, also indicates that 91 per cent of registered Muslim voters will go to the polls on November 6.

The random survey of 500 registered Muslim voters, conducted in the first two weeks of October, has a margin of error of five percent. 

The survey also indicated that 25 per cent of American Muslim registered voters are still undecided about whom to vote for in this November's presidential election. 

"These results indicate that a large percentage of American Muslim voters are still open to appeals from presidential candidates and that American Muslims are potentially in a position to decide this year's election," said CAIR national executive director Nihad Awad. 

According to the survey, the top five issues of importance to American Muslim voters are jobs and the economy, education, health care policy, Medicare and Social Security, and civil rights. 

As many as 55 per cent of Muslim voters consider themselves moderate and 26 per cent liberal, while 16 per cent consider themselves conservative, it said. 

The percentage of those who said they are closer to the Democratic Party grew from 49 per cent in a similar poll taken in 2008 to 66 per cent today.