Nader Could Peel Arab-American Voters From Obama
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The cover of this week’s New Yorker magazine may explain why Senator Obama isn’t reaching out to Michigan’s Muslims. Muslim- and Arab-Americans represent 4% of the vote in Michigan, a battleground in this year’s election. Yet Mr. Obama, who has held 13 events in the state during the presidential campaign, hasn’t visited a mosque or met with Muslim leaders. The editor of the nonpartisan newsletter Inside Michigan Politics, Bill Ballenger, said Mr. Obama, 46, has to strike a delicate balance. The Illinois senator “doesn’t have to pander” to such voters, who are likely to back him anyway, though he can ill-afford to “dismiss them in an arrogant fashion.” While Mr. Obama is leading in Michigan polls, some politicians said it would be a mistake for him not to actively court the state’s Muslim voters, who backed Senator Kerry four years ago and George W. Bush in 2000. Many Muslims who once leaned Republican have been turned off by the Iraq war and the law-enforcement scrutiny of their community put in place after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Nationally, 8% of Muslims identify themselves as Republican, compared with 49% who say they are Democrats, according to the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. In 2006, the percentage was 17% Republican to 42% Democratic. Thus, most experts don’t expect Senator McCain to carry the Muslim vote, though they said Mr. Obama’s failure to build bridges could depress turnout or boost support for potential third-party candidate Ralph Nader, who is of Lebanese descent. Mr. Nader, 74, who was on the ballot in Michigan in 2004, is petitioning to do so again this year. He could hurt Mr. Obama by peeling off 25% of the Arab community’s vote, a former chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, Morley Winograd, said.