Prayers during Ramadan at the Islamic Center for Detroit
The Israeli wars in Gaza and Lebanon presented major politcal hurdles for Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost to Donald Trump in Michigan by 80,618 votes.
Many Arab Americans opted not to vote for Harris.
Niraj Warikoo of the Detroit Free Press reports:
In the November 2020 election, Joe Biden received 82% of the vote in the eastern part of Dearborn. In that same area, Vice President Kamala Harris received only 23%.
The nearly 60-percentage point drop in four years was in an area where an estimated three-fourths of the residents are of Arab descent, mostly Muslim. Harris won the western part of the city, where residents generally have higher incomes and are more likely to be white, with 46% of the vote and Trump receiving 41.6%. In 2020, Biden won west Dearborn with 60.6%, 16,057 votes.
A Free Press analysis of individual precincts based on results provided Friday by Dearborn's city clerk reveal how much Harris lost support among areas with high concentrations of Arab American residents. In Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Hamtramck and Melvindale, which have the highest percentage of residents of Middle Eastern ancestry in Wayne County, there were significant decreases in support for the Democratic nominee for president compared to 2020.
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