'We are putting our faith and humanity first': Gaza remains top policy priority for American Muslims voting in the upcoming 2024 US elections

"What’s happening in Gaza should be a top concern not just for Muslims, but for all of humanity," says Thasin Sardar, a board member at the Islamic Society of Greater Lansing in Michigan involved in the Uncommitted Campaign  — a protest campaign seeking to pressure the Democratic Party to shift its policy towards Israel amid the Gaza war.

Recent survey results conducted in three swing states (Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan) by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) found that the war on Gaza is a top policy concern for the majority of Muslim voters (61%), as well as a top issue for Muslims across all gender, age, race, and partisan lines.

According to the survey, in 2020, 65% of Muslim voters across the swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia voted for Biden in what became a narrow victory for the Democratic candidate. Before Biden exited the 2024 race in July, only 18% of Muslims across these states who voted for him in 2020 still planned to vote for him in 2024.

Muslim support for Trump remained unchanged (around 22% in support compared to 18% in 2020). Instead, most of those who decided against voting for Biden again intended to either vote for a third-party candidate, write in a candidate (30%) or are undecided (17%). 

ISPU Director of Research Dr Saher Selod says Muslims historically have not been this unified on an issue in terms of voting priorities, including unity across racial and ethnic lines. 

“Words are not enough. They’re actually wanting to see policy shift on this,” she says. She adds that the results suggest Muslims don’t just want a ceasefire, but also an end to the US military aid to Israel. 

Rejecting evil

A poll conducted by ISPU earlier this year showed a majority of both Muslim and Jewish Democrats favour a ceasefire.

Although the voter survey was conducted before Biden dropped out of the race, Dr Selod says the policy priorities remain the same, and the results inform our understanding of Muslim support for Harris.

“I think the community was hopeful initially… There was an opportunity for Harris to change her tone and rhetoric,” she says, adding that she thinks the Muslim community remains sceptical of Harris after she silenced pro-Palestinian protesters in Michigan and refused to allow a Palestinian DNC speaker to have their say.

"They don’t just want better rhetoric, they want better policy and priorities are the same. The war in Gaza is the number one issue,” she says. Other top issues of concern included staying out of foreign wars and countering rising Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism.

Several prominent American Muslim imams and scholars signed an open letter encouraging Muslims to not vote for Harris over Gaza and to vote for third-party candidates. The letter encourages Muslim Americans not to skip voting.

“None of this is an endorsement of Donald Trump's vile, racist agenda, which includes advancing the apartheid and genocidal interests of a foreign state while falsely claiming to put America first,” the letter reads. “We are putting our faith and humanity first, rejecting anyone who has endorsed, perpetrated, or vowed to further evil.”

The Abandon Biden turned Abandon Harris campaign also recently endorsed Jill Stein and Butch Ware for the presidential ticket. 

“We call on Muslim Americans and all those who stand firmly against genocide to vote for the Green Party in 2024,” the group wrote in a release. “The path to justice is long, painful, and difficult, but it is ours to pave and follow.”

Making pragmatic but less palatable choices

An August survey conducted by the Council on American Islamic Relations shows almost a third of Muslim voters are planning on voting third-party.

On the other hand, some Muslim leaders have endorsed Harris.

“I don’t view the lack of consensus as a failing,” Sardar of Michigan says. “The Muslim community is not a monolith and therefore it is okay to have a varied opinion as we try to choose leadership in the face of the ongoing crisis overseas and threats to our dignity as Muslims and eroding rights as equal citizens.”

Sardar says Harris hasn’t earned the Michigan vote but understands that we need to make sure that Trump stays out of the White House, thus this means making a “pragmatic” but “less palatable” choice. 

“I hope we send a strong message by denying her victory in Michigan yet hoping that Democrats prevail in the rest of the country,” he says.

Zooming in on young Muslim voters

One of the main takeaways of the ISPU survey, according to Dr Selod, is that Gaza is a top priority across both young and elderly Muslims, and there seems to be no generational divide in views on Gaza heading into the presidential election. 

Thasin Sardar sees the general disapproval of Harris applying to young people.

 “Younger Muslim American voters are completely disenchanted by Kamala,” Sardar says.

Dr Selod adds that concerns over heightened Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism relate to students bringing a pro-Palestinian voice to their campuses, but concern over these issues is also high across various age groups.

Ibrahim, a former SJP board member at Emory University who was involved in the Gaza solidarity encampment last spring, says he sees some different opinions within the pro-Palestine student movement on the election, but some preference for third-party candidates.

“There's no way that me and many other pro-Palestinian people can vote for Kamala Harris after this genocide,” he says. “People seem to willingly ignore the fact that she has been the vice genocider this past year.”

Ibrahim says he is leaning towards voting third-party, but it is a tough decision given Georgia’s status as a swing state and his vote carrying a heavier weight. He understands where people are coming from if they want to vote for Harris, but he cannot “reward the current administration with [his] vote.”

Ibrahim says he supports the No Peace No Peach movement in Georgia, in which over 2,000 voters pledged to withhold their vote for the Harris-Walz tickets until the Biden-Harris administration implements an arms embargo and pushes for a ceasefire. 

Regardless of people’s views, Ibrahim says people shouldn’t just sit it out altogether. 

“Your vote is your voice,” he says. “Everyone should be voting.”

Nada Shalash is an Egyptian-American writer based in New Jersey, with bylines in Business Insider, Times Union, Boston Political Review, and other outlets. She was previously a Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, where she works on projects on racial discrimination in the criminal legal system

Follow her on X: @Nada_Shalash_