Two-thirds of US Muslims to vote Obama - poll

Over two thirds (68 percent) of US Muslims said they plan to vote to re-elect President Barack Obama for a second term in the Oval Office, according to a poll carried out by the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the US’s largest Muslim civil liberties organisation.

The percentage of those who said they are closer to the Democratic Party grew from 49 percent in a similar poll taken in 2008 to 68 percent today. Almost half of respondents said that the Democratic Party was friendly towards Muslims, the CAIR said in a statement.

The survey of registered American Muslim voters found around 90 percent said they plan to vote in the election on November 6. Of those polled, 68 percent said they will vote to re-elect President Obama and 7 percent said they will vote for Mitt Romney.

“In this close election, it is a small voting bloc that will decide the outcome. On November 6, American Muslims are in a position to determine which presidential candidate will win in key swing states such as Ohio, Virginia and Florida,” Nihad Awad, national executive director of CAIR, said in an opinion piece.