Poll: Bush losing Arab-American support

By ANN McFEATTERS
Blade Washington Bureau Chief


WASHINGTON - President Bush appears to have lost significant support among Arab-Americans in the United States, according to a new poll by Zogby International, an independent polling firm.
If the election were held now, John Kerry would get 54 percent of the vote among Arab-Americans in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Florida, four key battleground states. Mr. Bush lags far behind at 30 percent. Other candidates would get 5 percent of the vote. Eleven percent are undecided.

If Ralph Nader, who is of Lebanese descent, is in the mix as an independent who manages to get on the ballots in those four states, he would pull in 20 percent of the Arab-American vote. That would pull Mr. Bush's vote down to 27 percent and Mr. Kerry's down to 43 percent.

The best news for Mr. Bush right now, however, is in Ohio. If the election were today, he would pull 50 percent of the Arab-Americans in Ohio and Mr. Kerry would pull 34 percent with 14 percent undecided. In Pennsylvania, Mr. Kerry would get 73 percent of the vote and Mr. Bush would get 20 percent with only 3 percent undecided. In Michigan, Mr. Bush would get 27 percent of the vote and Mr. Kerry would get 52 percent with 14 percent undecided

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040313/NEWS08/403130353/-1/NEWS

1) Arab-Americans
2) Log-Cabin Republicans
3) Republicans in New York City directly affected by 9/11
4) Right-wingers who are angry about the amnesty for Hispanics or who are angry about outsourcing.


Who did I miss?

5.) True conservatives miffed that he's running up the deficit and spending like a drunken sailor.
6.) Swing state Southerners (TN, ARK, LA and FL).
7.) Moderate independents.
8.) People who have been out of a job for a year or more.
9.) People who are working for well less than what they are worth.
10.) And, as someone so aptly put it downthread, people with a brain.

front page, below the fold.

http://www.freep.com/news/politics/vote13_20040313.htm

RACE FOR PRESIDENT: Poll shows Bush losing Arab-American voters

BY RUBY L. BAILEY, JAMES KUHNHENN, AND NIRAJ WARIKOO
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS

March 13, 2004

WASHINGTON D.C. -- Many Arab Americans who voted for George W. Bush in 2000 prefer Sen. John Kerry this year, a new poll suggests.

But even if large numbers of Arab Americans switch party allegiance, could they be the difference in battleground states, including Michigan?

Not even the poll's sponsor, the Arab American Institute, was willing to step out on that limb Friday.

"I can't tell you what could happen in November," said James Zogby, president of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Washington, D.C.-based institute. Zogby is a member of the Democratic National Committee and helped run the Rev. Jessie Jackson's campaign for president in 1988. In a separate interview, he said of the Democratic choices: "We feel closer to Sen. Kerry than we did to many of the other candidates who were running."

more...

and he NEVER understood why so many Arab-Americans voted for Bush. He thought the man possessed no knowledge, what-so-ever, of the problems in the Middle East and would be (yes, he predicted this in 2000) beating the drums to go back to war in Iraq as soon as he took office.
Most people from the Middle East know that the IRC is a farce and we couldn't understand why the Bushies were taking their word for anything - much less base an entire war on their so-called intelligence.
By the way, I was also highly aware of issues, like the PNAC and the Taliban and the Bush/Saudi Arabia connection, back in 1997 and 98. I kept trying to tell anyone who would listen when Shrub ran for president that we'd be sorry we put someone in office who had so many murky dealings with a part of the world that is so unstable - but no one would listen to me, accusing me of being a "liberal reactionary."
(I voted for John McCain in the 2000 primaries! Some liberal reactionary I am! Geesch!)
But, alas, now I can go back to these idiots and say, "I told you so!"
;)