On Saturday, October 26, Republican presidential candidate and former President Trump received support from Arab and Muslim community leaders at a rally in Novi, Michigan.
“We have overwhelming support from Muslim and Arab voters in Michigan,” Trump said at the rally.
He later stated that Arab and Muslim voters are seeking peace in the Middle East, restoration of law and order, and are against minor gender reassignment surgeries.
“I am pleased to accept their endorsement,” Trump said. “No one believed they would support me… because they are great people, but they have always been Democrats.”
He then invited Arab and Muslim community leaders on stage, including Amer Ghalib, the Muslim-majority mayor of Hamtramck, Michigan.
Earlier this month, Trump received support from Ghalib.
“We Muslim support President Trump because he promises peace, not war,” Ghalib said. “We support Trump because he promises to end the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. All bloodshed around the world must stop. I believe he can achieve this goal.”
Earlier this year, over 100,000 Michigan Democrats (many from the Arab-American community near Detroit) abstained from the Democratic primary due to Biden’s support for Israel in the Gaza war.
So far, Democratic candidate and Vice President Harris’ stance on this issue has not significantly differed from Biden’s position.
With the polls so close, whoever can win over these voters, even a small portion of them, may determine the overall outcome.
According to data from polling organization FiveThirtyEight, in Michigan, Harris and Trump’s support rates are 47.6% and 47.1% respectively, with Harris leading Trump by only 0.5 percentage points.
Michigan has 8.4 million registered voters and 15 electoral votes, making it one of the seven tightly contested states that could decide the election outcome.
According to data released by the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office on Friday, 19.5% of registered voters in Michigan (nearly 1.42 million people) have already voted, with 19,000 of them casting in-person early votes, the rest by absentee ballots.
Since the 2020 general election, Michigan is implementing early in-person voting for the first time this year and starting to allow jurisdictions with over 5,000 residents to process and tally mail-in ballots eight days before the election day on November 5.
Furthermore, Michigan has the automotive industry city of Detroit, where union workers are concerned about how electric cars will reshape the American automotive industry.
Trump promises to protect automotive workers’ jobs through car loan tax breaks and combating Chinese auto sales.
Harris, on the other hand, focuses on differences from Trump in abortion rights, taxes, labor unions, and tariff policies.
In the 2020 general election, Biden defeated Trump with a 150,000 vote margin in Michigan, with a lead of less than 3%, while Trump won Michigan in 2016 by a 11,000 vote margin.