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Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim-American Society Freedom Foundation. (AP Photo)Nearly 90 percent of American Muslims supported Democrat Barack Obama on Election Day-and did so on the basis of economic and foreign policy concerns, top Muslim groups said in Washington, D.C., Friday.Muslims overlooked differences they might have had with the President-elect’s positions on same-sex marriage and abortion, just as Catholics and other religious groups did on Tuesday, according to top officials connected with the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT). Although most Muslims probably voted in favor of the same-sex marriage ban on the ballot in California, a position at odds with Obama's, they found enough common ground with the candidate in other areas that were central to their concerns in the 2008 election cycle, according to Mahdi Bray, executive director the Muslim-American Society Freedom Foundation.“Yes, Muslims believe marriage should be between a man and a woman but like other groups they split their vote,” Bray told CNSNews.com.“They did not just go straight down the line. There was a lot of careful, independent thinking. Other religious groups like Catholics also voted for Obama despite having some differences, so Muslims were not alone in this, they were like other Americans.”The AMT-an umbrella organization that includes 11 other Islamic groups, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the American Muslim Alliance, the Islamic Circle of North America, the Muslim Alliance in North America and the Muslim Student Association-National-gathered at the National Press Club to report on the electoral preferences of Muslim voters and their level of participation.Almost 90 percent of the respondents to a poll commissioned by AMT voted in favor of Obama. Just 2 percent supported Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the Republican candidate.The AMT survey also found that Muslims identified with the Democratic Party in higher percentages than with the GOP. Over two-thirds of the respondents said they were Democrats and only 4 percent said they were Republicans. The remaining 29 percent described themselves as independents. The AMT poll sampled about 600 Muslims, who were mostly concentrated in Illinois, New York, Virginia, Michigan, California, Texas, New Jersey, Maryland, Florida and Pennsylvania. The interviews took place Nov. 5-6.
By Kevin Mooney
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As in the days of Noah....
