CHICAGO: Third Party Presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein’s support of a two-state solution and an end to Israel’s brutal military offensive in the Gaza Strip is driving her popularity among Arab- and Muslim-American voters, says Chris Habiby, the national government affairs and advocacy director for the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
During an appearance on The Ray Hanania Radio Show, Habiby explained the results of an ADC survey conducted at the end of July. This poll showed the Green Party’s Stein with support from more than 45.3 percent of Arab and Muslim voters, while Vice President Kamala Harris received 27.5 percent.
Former President Donald Trump and independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. received 2 percent and 1.3 percent respectively, according to the survey.
There are two big takeaways from the survey, Habiby said, with the first being how deeply unpopular President Joe Biden is within the Arab-American community across the country.
“In the (previous) May survey, President Biden got somewhere between 7 percent of the community. Whereas now Vice President Harris came away with 27.5 percent,” he said.
The second takeaway is “just how much a winning message being ‘anti-genocide’ is for our communities across the country, including in some of the most important states come November,” Habiby explained.
Habiby was referring to being opposed to Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip that killed over 40,000 civilians, most of them women and children.
“Dr. Jill Stein has been very clear and emphatic in her anti-genocide message,” he said.
Habiby credited the “Abandon Biden,” the “Undecided” and “Vote Uncontested” movements with turning the tables and forcing Biden to withdraw from the election.
“I think it absolutely played a role in what we see right now. It gave our community members something to do that wasn’t just emailing or calling their members of Congress.
“It gave them something very tangible and that is very important when we are talking about getting people engaged to vote and to get engaged civically,” Habiby said.
He accused some media houses of suppressing Arab and Muslim voices.
“One major obstacle we have seen is just the lack of Arab voices on whether it is covering what is going on in Gaza but also covering the uncommitted movements and the hundreds of thousands of (Arab and Muslim) voters across the country,” he said.
“There just haven’t been Arab voices on any of these (media) panels that we have been seeing. It is a lot of fear-mongering and taking away the agency of Arab voters across the country.”
“It is not incumbent on us to vote for either party, it is incumbent on a candidate to earn our vote,” he added.
Listen to the entire interview on Thursday at 5 p.m. E.S.T. on WNZK AM 690 radio, or online at https://ArabNews.com/RayRadioShow.
