(Article changed on November 10, 2012 at 12:46)
More than 85 percent of American Muslim voters picked President Obama in Tuesday's election, according to an exit poll released Friday by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's leading Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization.
It may be recalled that a similar CAIR exit poll in 2008 showed that 89 percent of American Muslim voters picked then-candidate Barack Obama. Two percent of respondents said they voted for Sen. John McCain.
The CAIR's informal survey of more than 650 American Muslim voters indicates that just four percent of respondents cast their ballots for the Republican presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney.
The Poll findings indicated that 95.5 of the registered Muslim voters went to the polls on November 6.
85.7 percent cast their ballots to re-elect President Obama while only 4.4 percent of respondents said they voted for Mitt Romney.
Just over two percent (2.2) of respondents said they voted for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson while the same percentage (2.2) voted for Green Party candidate Jill Stein.
According to the poll, states with the highest number of
On the party affiliation, the poll found 41.5 percent considered themselves Democrats. A similar number, 40.6 percent, consider themselves politically independent. Only 7.4 percent said they are Republican.
"The fact that more than 95 percent of Muslim respondents went to the polls is a clear indication that they are fully participating in our nation's political process and are part of the fabric of America," said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad . "Muslim voters in swing states such as Florida, Virginia and Ohio seemed to have played a critical role in tipping the balance in the president's re-election victory."
A pre-election CAIR survey released on October 24, 2012 indicated that at least 25 percent of American Muslim registered voters were still undecided about who to vote for in the presidential election. The survey also indicated that 91 percent of registered Muslim voters will go to the polls on Nov. 6.
"It appears that undecided Muslim voters broke decisively in President Obama's favor at the polls," said CAIR National Legislative Director Corey Saylor. Saylor also expressed appreciation that a number of anti-Muslim candidates were rejected by voters nationwide.
Rejection of Islamophobes delights American Muslims
The seven-million strong American Muslim community has welcomed the rejection of Islamophobic candidates by voters in Tuesday's election.
In Florida, Republican Representative Allen West lost to his Democrat challenger Patrick Murphy. West has once described Islam as a "totalitarian theocratic political ideology" that is a "very vile and very vicious enemy". In June 2011, West brought a Florida organization called Citizens for National Security to a congressional building to accuse thousands of American Muslims of being part of a "fifth column" based on innuendo about the Muslim Brotherhood.
Another Florida Islamophobic lawmaker, Republican Adam Hasner, was defeated in his bid for Congress. Hasner is known for championing events to taint the image of Muslims. In 2009, he sought to block a day, "Florida Muslim Capitol Day", that marks Muslim achievements. In 2007, he sponsored a screening of the anti-Muslim film "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West" for state legislators.
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