Record Muslim participation in US election with nearly 70% voting for Biden

Nearly 70 per cent Muslim voters cast their ballot for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden while 17 per cent supported President Donald Trump in US election 2020, exit poll results quoted by Arab News showed.

The poll by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said that the US Muslim voters turned out in “record-breaking numbers” as over one million participated in Tuesday’s election.

It said that 84 per cent of 844 registered Muslim voter households said that they have voted. “CAIR would like to thank the more than one million American Muslim voters who turned out in record-breaking numbers this election cycle,” CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said.

The poll said 69 per cent of their registered Muslim voters voted for Biden and 17 per cent for President Trump.

It noted that Trump received four per cent more support of the Muslim vote, compared to the 2016 election, in which then he received a 13 per cent.

The CAIR said the poll was conducted using an independent automated call survey provider and asked two questions to the registered voters: Did you vote in the presidential election? and Which presidential candidate did you vote for?

On Thursday, Biden moved closer to victory in the presidential race as election officials tallied votes in the handful of states that will determine the outcome and protesters took to the streets.

Muslim voters were expected to play an important role in the election, particularly with the large Arab Muslim population in Michigan, a key battleground state.

President Trump alleged fraud without providing evidence, filed lawsuits and called for recounts in a race yet to be decided more two days after polls closed.

With tensions rising, about 200 of Trump’s supporters, some armed with rifles and handguns, gathered outside an election office in Phoenix, Arizona, following unsubstantiated rumours that votes were not being counted.

In Detroit, officials blocked about 30 people, mostly Republicans, from entering a vote-counting facility amid unfounded claims that the vote count in Michigan was fraudulent.

Trump has been accused of holding a hostile approach towards Muslims. He initially banned people from six Muslim-majority countries from entering the US.

In the nationwide popular vote, Biden was comfortably ahead of Trump on Wednesday, with 3.6 million more votes. Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 after winning crucial battleground states even though she drew about 3 million more votes nationwide.

Edison Research gave Biden a 243 to 213 lead over Trump in Electoral College votes, which are largely based on a state’s population. Other networks said Biden had won Wisconsin, which would give him another 10 votes. To win, a candidate needs 270 votes.

If Trump loses then he would become the first incumbent US president to lose a re-election bid since fellow Republican George HW Bush in 1992.