In the crucial swing state of Michigan, the Arab and Muslim community is divided over who to vote for.
Arab and Muslim Americans in the state of Michigan are grappling with a critical choice this election. Nearly 400,000 Arab Americans in the state were instrumental in delivering Michigan to elect Joe Biden in 2020. This time, however, many feel betrayed by his administration’s support for Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon. With candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris running neck and neck in Michigan, what stance will these voters take?
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Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Tamara Khandaker and Sarí el-Khalili, with Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Duha Mosaad, Hagir Saleh, Cole van Miltenburg, and our host, Malika Bilal.
The Take production team is Marcos Bartolomé, Sonia Bhagat, Sarí el-Khalili, Tamara Khandaker, Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Chloe K. Li, Ashish Malhotra, Khaled Soltan, and Amy Walters. Our editorial interns are Duha Mosaad, Hagir Saleh, and Cole van Miltenburg. Our host is Malika Bilal.
Our engagement producers are Munera Al Dosari, Adam Abou-Gad and Vienna Maglio. Aya Elmileik is lead of audience engagement.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editor is Hisham Abu Salah. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.
This combination of photos shows Vice President Kamala Harris, left, on Aug. 7, 2024 and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump on July 31, 2024.
AP
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned around southwestern states this week as they sought to shore up the Latino vote with only five days until Election Day.
Latino voters account for %14.7 of all eligible voters in the upcoming election, according to Pew Research Center. New Mexico, where Trump campaigned on Thursday, has the highest share of Latino voters with around 45% the population. The states with the next largest share of Latino voters include California, Texas, Arizona and Nevada. While California is reliably blue and Texas reliably red, Arizona and Nevada, where Harris held her rallies, are battleground swing states.
Although Democrats tend to have a historical advantage among Latino voters, that advantage has declined over the past four presidential cycles, according to a national NBC News/Telemundo/CNBC poll from September, especially as Trump makes strides with Latino men. One of the big reasons behind this, according to experts, is inflation and the cost of living crisis, two issues on which voters tend to trust Trump over Harris.
“So I’m here for one simple reason. I like you very much, and it’s good for my credentials with the Hispanic or Latino community,” Trump told the crowd in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Thursday, before asking them not to make him “waste a whole damn half a day here.”
The state is blue-leaning; President Joe Biden won in 2020 by 10.8 points and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won by 8.3 points in 2016. But Trump thinks he can shift it,
“We almost won it twice, and let me tell you, I believe we won it twice,” Trump said of the results of the presidential election out of New Mexico in 2020 and 2016, suggesting that the votes were rigged and that he believes he can win the state this year.
“One of the biggest reasons we will win this state is that you have among the worst border problems of any state in America, and I am the only one that knows how to fix it,” Trump said.
But the Trump campaign also found itself in the middle of a controversy this past week that could dampen his support among Latino voters, when comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made racist remarks about Latinos at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally.
Hinchcliffe joked that Latinos “love making babies” and he called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage.” And while campaign officials were quick to distance Trump from these remarks, the former President himself has yet to personally apologize for them.
US President Donald Trump arrives for a roundtable rally with Latino supporters at the Arizona Grand Resort and Spa in Phoenix, Arizona on September 14, 2020.
Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images
Although Trump’s speech in New Mexico centered mostly around immigration and border security, a recent CNBC poll rated the issue as only the fourth most important area of concern for Latino voters, well behind inflation, jobs and threats to democracy. Even then, the poll showed that more Latinos believe immigration helps the country more than it hurts it. But the ratio was the smallest since 2006.
Meanwhile, Harris held three rallies in Phoenix, Arizona, and in Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada, where she presented an economic pitch to the voters while also taking jabs at Trump’s stance on immigration.
“With five days left in this campaign, my opponent is also making his closing argument to America. It is an argument full of hate and division,” Harris told the crowd in Phoenix. “He insults Latinos, scapegoats immigrants, and it’s not just what he says, it’s what he will do if elected. You can be sure he will bring back family separation policies, only on a much greater scale than last time.”
Democratic presidential nominee U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Jennifer Lopez attend a campaign rally in North Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., October 31, 2024.
David Swanson | Reuters
Harris also had Latino musicians open for her on Thursday, most notably singer Jennifer Lopez in Las Vegas, Nevada. Lopez highlighted her Puerto Rican descent and appealed to immigrant and Latino voters as she introduced the vice president.
“[Trump] has consistently worked to divide us. At Madison Square Garden, he reminded us who he really is and how he really feels,” Lopez said. “It wasn’t just Puerto Ricans that were offended that day, it was every Latino in this country.”
Both campaigns have been amping up their Latino voter outreach efforts as Nov. 5 gets closer. Last week, Trump hosted a roundtable in Florida with Latino business leaders, while Telemundo aired a pre-taped interview with Harris.
In a furious final push before Election Day, Donald Trump kicked off four rallies in three states Monday, starting in the battleground of North Carolina. Trump predicted victory, urging his supporters to get out and vote, declaring,”It’s ours to lose.”
In a furious final push before Election Day, Donald Trump kicked off four rallies in three states Monday, starting in the battleground of North Carolina. Trump predicted victory, urging his supporters to get out and vote, declaring,”It’s ours to lose.”
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A screenshot seen by the Guardian shows how employees at the private Wisconsin paper and office products distributor were asked to take part in what was called an anonymous survey to track who the employees were voting for on 5 November.
Below a picture of a blue donkey and a red elephant, the online survey says: “We’re curious – how does Uline compare to the current national polls?”
While the button employees are meant to click says the survey is anonymous, the webpage also says that employees “may be asked to sign in”. “This is solely to verify you are a Uline employee and to ensure one submission per person. Your name is not tracked, and your answers remain anonymous.”
Public records show that Dick Uihlein has donated almost $80m to the Restoration Pac in the 2024 cycle, which supports the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, and other Republican candidates.
A screenshot of the survey given to Uline employees. Photograph: Obtained by the Guardian
One employee who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retribution said the request felt like an infringement on their privacy and that people inside the company were angered by it. Another said multiple employees had privately questioned how anonymous the survey really was. There was an assumption that Democrats would not answer the survey truthfully, a source close to Uline told the Guardian.
For Uline workers, there is little doubt about who their bosses want to win in this week’s election.
The billionaire Uihleins are staunchly pro-Trump and anti-abortion and have had significant influence on local and national politics, including changes to state laws that will make it more difficult for states to pass pro-choice legislation or changes to state constitutions in the wake of the Dobbs decision that overruled national abortion protections.
The voter survey is particularly significant because Uline’s operations are headquartered in the critical swing state of Wisconsin, which is one of three so-called “blue wall” states that are seen as necessary for Kamala Harris to win the White House. While Joe Biden won Wisconsin in the 2020 race for the White House, Trump took it in 2016, solidifying its status as a swing state.
Liz Uihlein at the White House for a state dinner in 2019. Photograph: Paul Morigi/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Asked whether the request for voting information might be seen as intimidating, Liz Uihlein responded in a statement to the Guardian: “This is stupid! The survey was for fun after enduring two years of this presidential election. The results were anonymous and participation was voluntary. This is completely benign.”
Danielle Lang, senior director of voting rights at the Campaign Legal Center, said she did not believe the request was benign.
“Employers should know to be very careful around pressure on employees, about whether they vote and certainly who they vote for,” Lang said.
“Regardless of intentions, this very clearly could create anxiety for many employees,” she said. “Employees rely on employers for their livelihood.”
Federal and some state laws protect employees from voter intimidation and coercion, including by employers. Under federal law, voters who need help at the voting booth because of a disability may choose so-called “assisters” under the Voting Rights Act. But those assisters may not be employers or union reps, Lang said.
“I think that is an implicit recognition of how much power employers can have over employees and the undue influence they can wield,” Lang said.
In Wisconsin, it is also criminal to solicit a person to show how their vote is cast.
A spokesperson declined to answer the Guardian’s question about the results of the survey, which were due by 25 October.
