More than 85 percent of Muslim voters in the United States voted for US President
Barack Obama in the 2012 election, according to a poll by the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
The number
represents a small drop-off from 2008, in which Obama won 89% of the
Muslim vote. Of
the 650 American Muslim voters in CAIR's informal survey, only 4% said that they voted for Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
Similarly, Jewish support for Obama slipped somewhat in the 2012 presidential race but still far surpassed that earned by Romney.
According to exit polls, 69% of Jews cast their ballot for the Democratic candidate as compared to 78% in 2008. Some 30% went for Republican Mitt Romney, up from 22% for the party’s candidate in the last presidential race.
The exit polls were conducted by a national consortium and generally include samples of 400-500 Jewish voters in their national survey.
Democratic pollster Jim Gerstein said the drop in the Jewish vote - of about 5% - is consistent with the drop in support for Obama overall among other key constituencies such as Catholics and white voters. Nationally, Obama’s popular support dropped from 53% of the vote to 50%.
Hilary Leila Krieger contributed to this report.
