Democratic candidate Kamala Harris won 67% of the American Jewish vote while Republican Donald Trump received 31%, similar to the results of the 2020 elections, according to an AP exit poll. Then, President Joe Biden was supported by 69% of the American Jewish voters and Trump received 31%.
Harris also won 61% of the American Muslim votes, according to the exit poll, close to Biden's 63% in 2020. Trump won 30%, 5% less than in 2020.
In Dearborn Michigan, America's most Arab-populated city, Trump was supported by 45% of the vote, although the count is not final and independent candidate Jill Stein won 15% of Harris voters.
Donald Trump campaigns in Dearborn
(Reuters)
This is a dramatic change in Dearborn, which was branded "American's Jihad capital," in the Wall Street Journal. In 2020, Democrats won 88% of votes for Biden. The reasons are clear. Muslim Americans strongly opposed the Biden administration's policies over Israel's war in Gaza.
In the days leading up to the elections, the parties were projected to be close and both candidates aggressively courted Muslim voters.
In a Fox News poll, voters were asked if they support continued aid to Israel in its war against Hamas and Hezbollah. Of those who said they did, just 25% supported Harris. Some 69% cast their votes for Trump.
3 View gallery
Muslims pray in Dearborn Michigan before going to the polls
(Photo: David Goldman / AP)
Among those who opposed continued support for Israel, 55% voted for Haris and 40% for Trump. Still, according to NBC's exit poll, Harris had 77% of the Jewish vote and Trump only 22%.
The final numbers for Jewish and Muslim votes are still unknown. Trump campaigned hard to keep these voters at home and he may have succeeded. In Pennsylvania, where some 300,000 Jewish Americans live, every vote is critical.
Concern for the Jewish vote was historically spared for Democratic presidential candidates. Most American Jews are liberals and their support for the Democrats was always assured. Although their share in the general population is small, just 2.4%, they have considerable weight in American society and in its politics, giving them disproportionate importance, especially for the Democrats.
In 1988, George Bush Sr. won 35% of the Jewish vote, which was considered to be a great achievement, but after he refused to guarantee loans for Israel in order to assist in the absorption of the mass immigration of Jews from the former Soviet Union, Jewish support for him dropped in the next elections, down to 11%.
Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: