This is not the least bit surprising but it is interesting.
Note that it was written over 6 months before 9/11. It is not a left wing site, far from it. I don't think it had much influence on Dubya when he ordered the FBI to lay off their investigation of Bin Laden. I think the pipeline (Lay/Enron/oil) and Poppy's business interests (Caryle/defense contractors) were what influenced him when he made that decision.
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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2001, Pages 25, 82
Special Report
American Muslims Demonstrate Unity, Influence With Historic Bloc Vote
By Paul Findley
George W. Bush should thank Florida Muslims for opening his way to the White House. Responding to a national campaign, they discarded normal Democratic Party allegiance and voted as a bloc for the Republican from Texas, providing him with a statewide net gain in Florida of more than 64,000 Muslim votes.
Had they not voted as a bloc, Vice President Al Gore would have emerged as the clear winner shortly after the polls closed on Nov. 7. There would have been no recounts, no long, divisive wrangling in state and federal courts. Even with dimpled ballots left uncounted, Gore’s Florida total would have substantially topped the Texas governor’s, giving the vice president the majority of the nation’s electoral votes and quick certification as president-elect.
A June poll showed a slight national Muslim preference for Gore, but an intensive campaign that began on Sept. 3 transformed Muslim sympathies into a nine-to-one landslide for Bush when votes were counted. In Florida, the state that proved pivotal in the ultimate certification of the president-elect, Bush’s Muslim margin was even greater.
The importance of Muslim bloc voting arises from its magnitude, as well as its focus. Best estimates put the national Muslim population at seven million, 70 as the percentage of those eligible to vote, and 65 as the percentage of those eligible who actually voted. This means that the national turnout of Muslims on Nov. 7 came to 3.2 million.
According to an exit poll of 1,774 Muslims, 72 percent voted for Bush and 8 percent for Gore. This means an estimated 2.3 million Muslims voted for Bush and only 256,000 for Gore, a national net gain for Bush in excess of two million.
The Muslim impact in Florida was even more impressive. Accepting the assumptions used in the national analysis and 200,000 as the Muslim population in Florida, 140,000 Muslims were eligible and 91,000 actually voted. If 80 percent—a conservative estimate—supported Bush, this means he received 72,000 Muslim votes. If 8 percent—a generous estimate—voted for Gore, his total vote came to 7,238. In Florida, the net Muslim vote for Bush topped 64,000. Of the total Muslim vote, 26,000 were from first-time voters. The national exit poll of Muslims showed that 36 percent cast ballots for the first time.
washington-report.org |
