Some American Muslims are struggling to find a candidate they can tolerate as president

ATLANTA – With death and destruction in Gaza on her mind, Soraya Burhani pondered how to cast her vote for president.

“For us, Muslims, I see that there is no right choice,” she said.

As the U.S. handling of the Israel-Hamas war and the Middle East conflict looms over the race for the White House, many Muslim American voters — most of whom supported President Joe Biden four years ago — have struggled with voting decisions.

After US support for Israel left many of them feeling resentful and ignored, some are pushing for a repudiation of Democrats, including by favoring third-party options for president. Others are grappling with how to express their anger at the ballot box, amid warnings from some against another Donald Trump presidency.

For voters in swing states like Georgia, which Biden won by fewer than 12,000 votes in 2020, the weight of such decisions could be magnified.

When it comes to voting, “the reactions are all over the place and not really aligned with one political party as in the past,” said Shafina Khabani, executive director of the Georgia Muslim Voter Project. “Our communities are sad; they mourn; they mourn; they are angry and confused.”

Burhani, a Malaysian American, ultimately voted for Kamala Harris — but it was a vote against Trump, not in support of the Democratic vice president, she said. “It was very difficult. It was very painful. It was very sad.”

Burhani had become spokesperson for a recently launched campaign, “No Peace No Peach,” which urged Harris to be withheld votes unless demands, including halting arms shipments to Israel, were met. The group ultimately encouraged voters to “keep Palestine in mind at the ballot box, and vote with their conscience.”

Some others, she said, “can’t bring themselves” to vote for Harris and will instead support the Green Party’s Jill Stein.

Among them is Latifa Awad, who has family in Gaza and said she wants to send a message with her vote for Stein: our votes matter.

“People say, ‘if you don’t vote for Kamala, you vote for Trump,’” she said. But, she added, “they both support Israel.”

Jahanzeb Jabbar said he voted for Trump in 2020 and is supporting him this year.

“If Trump was in power and this was going on, I wouldn’t have voted for him,” he said. “If the Democrats had taken a very strong position on a ceasefire and ending military aid to Israel, then my vote would be ready.”

He sees Trump as “the better option” for peace and says the Republican candidate is a good dealmaker. Jabbar dismisses warnings from some that things would be worse under Trump, asking how things could get worse after Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has already killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.

The war was sparked by the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, in which Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages.

According to AP VoteCast, among Muslim voters nationally in 2020, about two-thirds supported Biden and about a third supported Trump. Biden’s support makes many feel betrayed or even guilty.

“They see that these elected officials that they voted for are actually financing a war that is killing their own family and friends,” Khabani said. At the same time, community members are warning of another Trump presidency, she said, recalling Trump’s ban during his time in office that affected travelers from several Muslim-majority countries. Biden has rescinded the ban.

Some Muslims, Khabani said, are also concerned about issues such as the maternal mortality rate in Georgia’s black communities, health care affordability and gun safety.

Many, she said, aren’t sure if they want to vote. She and others have urged them not to overlook the down-ballot races.

At the national level, some religious leaders have supported different sides of the debate.

A letter signed by a group of imams and other leaders urged American Muslims to reject what they said was a “false binary” and make a statement by voting for a third party in the presidential election.

“We will not soil our hands by voting for or supporting an administration that has brought so much bloodshed on our brothers and sisters,” the report said, stressing that this was not an endorsement of Trump, who was also criticized.

Another group of imams said the benefit of supporting Harris “far outweighs the downsides of the other options.”

“Knowingly enabling someone like Donald Trump to return to office, either by voting for him directly or by voting for a third-party candidate, is both a moral and strategic failure,” the letter said.

In the swing state of Michigan, Trump has received a number of endorsements from Muslims, including two mayors, while many other leaders remained negative toward him.

Harris and Trump have battled for an edge among Arab and Muslim American voters and Jewish voters, especially in tight races in Michigan and Pennsylvania. American Muslims, who are racially and ethnically diverse, make up a small share of the overall electorate, but community activists hope that energizing more of them, especially in key swing states with notable Muslim populations, will make a difference in close races.

“If you don’t live in a swing state, I envy you,” said Georgia state Rep. Ruwa Romman, a Democrat of Palestinian descent. “For those of us in swing states … it has been a suffocating and crushing responsibility.”

Romman’s name was among those suggested by “noncommitted” activists pushing for a Palestinian speaker on the Democratic National Convention stage. The denial of that request dismayed many of those who wanted Harris to distinguish himself from Biden’s Gaza policy. Some had credited Harris with striking a more empathetic tone toward Palestinian suffering, but said she failed to follow it up with action.

Romman, had she given a speech, would have called for Harris’ election and Trump’s defeat, while outlining demands including a ceasefire. She laments the dismissal of a speaker’s “symbolic gesture” as a missed opportunity, but says Trump would be “so much worse” for the Palestinians. “I’m just frustrated because I’m caught between two immovable entities, right? The Harris campaign and the community,” she said. “Sometimes it feels like they’re actually further apart.”

She said: “If I believe there is a chance to stop the genocide under Harris, but no chance under Trump, don’t I have a moral obligation to get to that situation?”

An attendee at an Arab-American convention in Michigan recently told Romman it was “disgusting” that she had been willing to take the DNC stage and offer her support without any policy change from the administration.

Nasrina Bargzie, director of Muslim and Arab American outreach for Harris’ campaign, said in a statement that throughout her career, Harris has “been steadfast in her support of our country’s diverse Muslim community, ensuring that they remain free” can live off the hateful policies. of the Trump administration.” She added that Harris “will continue to work to end the war in Gaza in a way where Israel is safe, the hostages are freed, the suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security and freedom .” and self-determination.”

Trump campaign senior adviser Brian Hughes said the Harris-Biden administration’s “failed foreign policy has brought death, chaos and war to the Middle East,” adding that only Trump “will ensure peace and stability in the Middle East for all people and that he will do so.” protect religious freedom for all Americans, as he did in his first term.”

Trump has expressed his support for Israel and, as president, declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel.

At the Masjid of Al-Islam in Atlanta, Georgia, where the congregation is mainly African-American, mosque attendee Sabir Muhammad said that “as Muslims we are of course discouraged by the situation in Gaza and we cannot support the government’s complicity .”

He said he felt he had little choice this election — Trump is not an option for him — and that he would likely vote for Harris, later adding that he had voted but wanted to keep his choice private.

“We are in a dilemma,” he had said.