How will Arab and Muslim Americans vote and why, is focus of Arab Radio show in Michigan and online
Chicago, IL — The presidential election is the focus on a special season of “The Ray Hanania Radio Show” which begins broadcasting this week in Michigan on the US Arab Radio Network sponsored by Arab News, the leading English language newspaper in the Gulf.
Hosted by veteran political reporter and columnist Ray Hanania, the radio show launched August 15 featuring a look at how Arab and Muslim Americans will vote by pollster John Zogby of John Zogby Strategies and Chris Habiby, National Government Affairs and Advocacy Director for the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC).
“The Ray Hanania Radio Show” broadcasts Thursdays at 5 PM EST and rebroadcasts Mondays at 5 PM EST on WNZK AM 690 Radio based in Dearborn, Michigan. You can listen to the audio podcast at ArabNews.com/RayRadioShow and watch the show video on Youtube at ArabRadioShow.com.
In the Episode 1 of Season 4on August 15, Radio Show guests John Zogby, founder of Zogby Strategies which has conducted research and polls in 80 countries around the world, and Chris Habiby, the National Government Affairs and Advocacy Director for the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, discuss how Arab and Muslim Americans will vote in the upcoming presidential election.
Zogby and Habiby discussed the issues Arab and Muslim Americans are weighing as the look at Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump, and Third Party candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Green Party Candidate Dr. Jill Stein.
Articles on the interviews with each guest along with video excerpts are published at ArabNews.com/rayradioshow.
“There is no other radio program in America that deep dives into the Arab and Muslim American vote, and the topic is marginalized by the mainstream American News media,” says longtime columnist and journalist and radio host Ray Hanania.
“It’s amazing to me how all of the candidates are reaching out to win voter support from Arab and Muslim Americans and yet the topic is not explored at all in the mainstream news media. Arab and Muslim American voters will be the key segment that will swing the election in several Swing States including Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Georgia and in battleground states including Pennsylvania, Minnesota and New Jersey.”
Hanania, who covered Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 for several newspapers including the Chicago Sun-Times, has been writing for newspapers across the Arab World including currently as the U.S. Special Correspondent for Arab News, based in Saudi Arabia and Dubai.
Both ADC and Zogby Strategies have been carefully following Arab and Muslim American preferences. A recent ADC Survey shows that more than 43.5 percent of the community are voting for Stein, while Harris only has about 27.5 percent.
Trump and Kennedy receive about 2 percent of the community’s support, according to the ADC survey. Click for more info.
The key swing states Biden won include: Michigan, 16 ECV by a narrow 154,188 votes of more than 5.5 million votes cast; Arizona, 11 ECV by a narrow 10,457 votes; Wisconsin’s 10 ECV by 20,682 votes; Georgia’s 16 ECV by 11,779 votes; and, Nevada’s 6 ECV by 33,596 votes.
Losing three or four of those swing states would prevent Harris from reaching the 270 Electoral Votes needed to win.
- Michigan: there were 130,000 AbandonBiden votes, plus many thousands more that cast “blank” ballots. The “uncommitted” vote in the Biden race was 13.3 percent. There are more than 500,000 Arab and Muslim voters in Michigan.
- Arizona: the AbandonBiden vote totaled just under 40,000 votes.
- Wisconsin: more than 47,800 AbandonBiden votes were cast, nearly 8.3 percent of the total.
- Georgia: more than 6,000 voters or 2.2 percent, left their ballots blank, in what was considered a low state turnout. Turnout in primary elections are always lower than the general election turnout. In the 2020 General election, Biden won 2.5 million votes out of more than 4.9 million cast. In the Georgia Primary, only 221,605 voters cast votes for Biden and 11,00 more voted for other Democrats.
“Right now, both Trump and Harris are fighting for Arab and Muslim votes, with Trump receiving support from the Republican organization Arabs for Trump, while Harris continues to be rebuffed by community leaders angry with the Biden Administration’s policies supporting Israel,” Hanania said.
“Understanding the nuances of that anger will make a difference in the November 5, 2024 Presidential election for Trump and Harris but unfortunately the topic is being marginalized by the mainstream news media.”
Next week’s Show on August 22 will feature Arab advocates for Trump and Harris. So far, Kennedy has declined to appear on the US Arab Radio Network in Michigan, but Stein has appeared in the past and will again appear during the show’s new season.
For more information on Ray Hanania or to subscribe to his columns, visit www.Hanania.com.
— Press Release
His award winning columns can be found at www.HANANIA.COM Subscribe FREE today
Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
Email Ray Hanania at rghanania@gmail.com.
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