As the community possesses significant strength in several key battleground states, how they vote and what issues matter to them are important considerations.
What comes through from the poll results is that Arab Americans support policies that are more liberal than conservative. And while both parties are losing support among Arab Americans, it appears that a majority of the community will favour Democrats over Republicans when choosing a president and members of Congress.
While these are the top-line political findings of this new Arab American study, the results also illustrate that despite the community’s complexity and diversity, common threads unite them. Attitudes are shared across all of the main demographic groupings in multiple areas. For example, despite a majority of respondents reporting that they have experienced discrimination because of their heritage – and this is true of all of the sub-groups of Arab Americans – four in five profess deep pride in their ethnicity and heritage. And while their religious affiliations and countries of origin matter, a majority define themselves as “Arab American”.
Continuing a trend that has been observed since Arab Americans reacted negatively to the post-9/11 policies of the Bush administration, the percentage of community members who identify as Democrats is nearly double the percentage who identify as Republicans (40 per cent-24pc).
The biggest changes in this year’s poll are the drop in Democrats from the 50pc range in the Obama years and the steady growth of Independents, from 15pc in 2014 to 28pc this year. Further evidence of this shift in party affiliation can be seen in the almost four in five Arab Americans who express concern with political polarisation in the US today, with almost one-half blaming both parties for this problem.
While Arab Americans give President Joseph Biden a low 31pc job approval rating, the 47pc of Arab Americans with a favourable view of Biden is significantly higher than the 36pc with a favourable view of former President Donald Trump. And, despite their concern with partisan polarisation, by a margin of 53pc to 30pc, Arab Americans say they would prefer that Democrats have control of Congress.
When it comes to domestic issues, Arab Americans, like most other American ethnic groups, demonstrate a mix of liberal and centrist policy concerns. Their single most important issue is gun violence, followed by a second tier of issues like: addressing the budget deficit and government spending, creating jobs and growing the economy, and concerns with the environment and climate change. Also scoring high are improving health care, addressing race relations, and protecting Social Security and Medicare.
Their three top foreign policy concerns, closely bunched together and shared by almost three quarters of respondents across demographic lines, are: the crisis in Lebanon, the humanitarian needs of the Syrian people, and securing justice for Palestinians.
Arab Americans were asked two questions regarding their attitudes toward limiting free speech. When asked how concerned they are with “state laws or executive orders that penalise individuals, groups, or businesses from engaging in activities that boycott Israel” over four in five said they are concerned. And three-quarters are also concerned with efforts by school boards that seek to ban books containing Black history and LGBTQ content.
What emerges from this examination of Arab American attitudes is a profile of a community that largely due to its own experiences in recent decades is more liberal and tolerant than the overall American population. At the same time, they are also balanced and opposed to extreme views that divide the country.
Of equal importance is the fact that these attitudes are largely consistent across the many diverse demographic groups that make up the Arab American community: age, gender, religious affiliation, immigrant/native born, and country of origin. These shared views, values, and life experiences are the hallmarks that define the community and place it well within the mainstream of American politics.
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