22 September 2008

Arab Americans Encouraging Community to Make Voice Heard

Economic issues top concern for two-thirds of Arab Americans

Mia Kamal encourages Arab Americans in Florida to register to vote and learn how to get involved in political parties.

By Michelle Austein
Staff Writer

Washington — As part of its Yalla (“Let’s go”) Vote campaign, the Arab American Institute (AAI) is encouraging its community to engage in the political process and make its voice heard.

Many in the community are doing just that, saying that, like other Americans, their top concern in the 2008 election is the economy.

At least 3.5 million Americans are of Arab descent, and about one-third of Arab Americans live in battleground states — including Michigan, Virginia, Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania.

AAI field organizers in five states with large Arab-American populations are visiting community, religious and political gatherings to encourage Arab Americans in their states to get involved in the electoral process.

Organizers like Nadia Zaiem, a 20-year-old student at Case Western University in Cleveland, have been attending iftaars (the evening meal to break the daily fast during Ramadan) and visiting mosques, churches and Arab restaurants to encourage people to vote.

“It doesn’t really matter who you vote for, as long as you vote,” Zaiem told America.gov. “If you don’t vote, then your elected officials will realize you’re not voting and they won’t be as eager to listen to you in the future. … By voting you’re showing the strength and the power to re-elect them in the future.”

“The more people who vote, the stronger our voice is and the better we’ll be heard,” Zaiem said.

GETTING OUT THE VOTE, REACHING OUT TO POLICAL PARTIES

Field organizers are gathering signatures for a national declaration, drafted by 50 Arab organizations, that outlines the issues of importance to their community. Those who sign the declaration pledge to vote.

“The point of the declaration is to get as many Arab Americans as possible to sign this document and say ‘We’re out here, we’re voting, our issues are important to us and we’re worth paying attention to,’” 21-year-old Matt Ellias, a student at New York’s Fordham University and AAI’s New York field organizer, told America.gov.

“It’s proven to be such a mobilizing, moralizing thing,” Ellias said. “They read the language, they get excited about the declaration and it’s almost like they get something special out of it from putting their name on it.”

“It makes them more likely to want to get involved, more likely to want to volunteer and more likely to actually vote,” he said. The full text of the National Declaration is available on the AAI Web site.

Field organizers also have been helping connect community members with political parties, encouraging them to volunteer or attend local meetings. 

“It’s important for us to show the politicians we want to be involved,” Mia Kamal, a 24-year-old graduate student at the University of Central Florida, told America.gov.

“In Florida we could swing the election. We are a community that people need to pay attention to because we do have that power,” Kamal said. “People here recognize this.”

ARAB AMERICANS CONCERNED ABOUT ECONOMY

Nearly two-thirds of Arab Americans say the economy is their top concern, according to a recent poll.

Discussing the findings of a Zogby International poll conducted between September 8 and 13, James Zogby, director of AAI, said Arab Americans are focused on the same issues as the rest of the U.S. electorate. Other top issues are the war in Iraq, health care and gas prices.

Sometimes people think the Middle East is the only thing Arab Americans care about, Kamal said. “People are talking about health care, education … gas being $4 a gallon, the economy. Arab-American issues are American issues.”

Nearly two-thirds of those polled said that if they agreed with a presidential candidate on most issues but strongly disagreed with the candidate’s Middle East policy, they would not consider changing their vote.

Democratic candidate Barack Obama seems to be heavily favored by Arab Americans, but that support is “soft,” Zogby said. When asked to select between Obama and Republican John McCain, 54 percent selected Obama and 33 percent picked McCain. But when asked to choose among Obama, McCain, Libertarian Bob Barr and independent Ralph Nader, Obama’s numbers drop, with 46 percent favoring Obama, 32 percent favoring McCain, 1 percent for Barr and 6 percent for Nader.

One reason why McCain is not faring well with this demographic is the declining number of Arab Americans who consider themselves to be Republican. In 2000, 40 percent identified themselves as Democrat and 38 percent as Republican. In 2008, 46 percent identified as Democrat while only 20 percent called themselves Republicans.

Zogby said the Obama campaign is reaching out to Arab Americans in ways he’s “never seen before” such as hiring Arab Americans for his  field staff in states with large Arab-American populations. The campaign also has created an “Arab Americans for Obama” Web page. “My sense is the McCain campaign will catch up, but they have not started yet,” he said.