As former President Donald Trump looks to cut away at Vice President Kamala Harris’s recent surge in the polls, his campaign is zeroing in on a key voting demographic it is hoping to siphon away from Democrats: Arab and Muslim Americans.
Although considered a tried-and-true voting bloc for the Democratic Party, Trump’s allies are hoping to seize on unrest stemming from the war in Israel to boost the former president’s standing among the demographic ahead of the November election — particularly in battleground states. Michigan, for example, has a significant Muslim population, attracting some of Trump’s top surrogates to ramp up their messaging and outreach efforts.
“Donald Trump’s message to Arab Americans is the same message he gives to American Jews,” Richard Grenell, former acting director of national intelligence under the Trump administration, told the Washington Examiner. “First, Trump already produced peace agreements between Arabs and Israelis, and he will do it again. Second, Donald Trump already had Iran bankrupt, and he will do it again so they won’t be able to fund terror.”
Grenell traveled to the battleground state earlier this week alongside Michael Boulos, the Arab American husband of Tiffany Trump, and Alina Habba, the former president’s lawyer whose parents are from Iraq and Catholic. While there, the group spoke with Arab and Muslim American voters as polling shows the demographic trending away from the Democratic Party in the state.
Muslim voters in the United States have long supported the Democratic Party, with a majority of the demographic backing former President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 and Hillary Clinton in 2016. Exit polls in 2020 show around 69% of Muslim voters nationwide backed President Joe Biden in 2020, with the then-candidate garnering 83% of the vote in Michigan precincts with heavy Arab and Muslim populations.
However, that support began to falter after war broke out in Israel nearly a year ago. Since then, leaders of the Arab and Muslim American communities have urged voters to withhold their support from Biden to protest his administration’s lack of support for a ceasefire.
The Abandon Biden movement, now the Abandon Harris campaign, helped the effort to cast more than 100,000 “uncommitted” ballots in the Michigan primary election.
The Uncommitted National Movement also announced this week it was not endorsing Harris, although the group did clarify to say it “opposes a Donald Trump presidency, whose agenda includes plans to accelerate the killing in Gaza,” and “is not recommending a third-party vote,” as “third-party votes in key swing states could help inadvertently deliver a Trump presidency given our country’s broken Electoral College system.”
Still, it gives an opening to Donald Trump and his allies to paint Harris as dangerous with her foreign policy stances, a message they hope resonates with the voting demographic in Michigan — a key state that could determine the presidential election in November.
“I have been clear that Arab Americans in Detroit can’t miss their moment. They can’t go back and vote for Democrats after a yearlong war funded by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” Grenell said. “If they do, they will send a powerful message to Republicans and Democrats that nothing will peel Arab Americans away from Democrats. Nothing. They will be taken for granted by Democrats for the next 20 years.”
Grenell also pointed to recent polls that show Arab and Muslim American voters in Michigan largely backing Green Party candidate Jill Stein, which could be a fatal blow to Harris’s chances in the Wolverine State.
Some 40% of the voting bloc say they’ll back Stein, with another 18% saying they prefer Donald Trump, according to a recent poll conducted in late August by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Harris trails behind at 12%, the poll shows.
“If you flex your muscle and vocally support Trump,” Grenell says to Muslim voters in Michigan, “you will forever teach Democrats that they must pay attention to you.”
Donald Trump is also gaining ground with Muslim voters in Nevada, another key battleground state in November. There, the former president has garnered 27% support from the voting bloc ahead of Harris’s 26%, according to the CAIR poll. However, Harris still has the upper hand in Georgia and Pennsylvania, leading with 43% and 37%, respectively.
Democrats, for their part, have expressed confidence in Harris’s chance of winning Michigan and overcoming the Uncommitted movement.
“Let’s be clear: For folks who are concerned specifically about this issue of Gaza … Donald Trump is not the solution to this problem,” Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI) told the Washington Examiner. “Donald Trump’s approach is even more harsh.”
Kildee said he has encouraged Harris to “speak with her own voice” on the issue, arguing it would help her with voters and “could make a difference in terms of folks giving her a chance.” Even so, Kildee said he was confident Donald Trump would not be able to capture Michigan from Democrats.
“We know what a Trump presidency looks like, and I just believe that the people of Michigan, while some obviously still support him on the margins, people in Michigan are not going to want to go back to that,” Kildee said.
Grenell’s outreach work comes as the former Trump administration official is a top name being considered for a Cabinet position should the former president be reelected in November. It’s not clear what position Grenell would be tapped for, but sources close to Donald Trump say it’s likely he could be tapped for something related to national security.
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“Ric Grenell is one of President Trump’s top surrogates and trusted advisers. It is not surprising he is trusting him with Michigan,” a person close to the Trump campaign said. “Heck, Ric could easily be secretary of state. He has never lost a confirmation vote in the Senate and would easily be confirmed in a GOP Senate.”
His work in Michigan could propel him to such a position, especially if Donald Trump garners significant support from Arab and Muslim American voters that help him secure victories in battleground states.
Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.
