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00:00Kamala Harris snapped back at Donald Trump this Thursday over what she called his very
00:04offensive remarks about women.
00:06Returning reproductive rights to the fore, the rivals take their knife-edge White House
00:10race to Western battleground states, both holding rallies in Nevada this Thursday.
00:16One of the seven swing states that will decide the fate of the United States presidency.
00:20Harris will have the support of the pop star J-Lo, aka Jennifer Lopez.
00:25Trump has a rally planned, as well as a media op with the far-right polemicist Tucker Carlson.
00:29Four million Muslims live in the United States.
00:35Their votes could well prove decisive in some of these swing states.
00:38There is a big issue on their minds.
00:41The fate of their fellow Muslims in the Gaza Strip.
00:44The United States bankrolls Israel's military with $3.3 billion each year and has given
00:50an additional $8 billion in recent weeks.
00:56In the 2020 US election, she voted Democrat.
01:00But Samra, a Muslim of Yemeni origin, says she will be voting for Donald Trump next week,
01:05accusing the Biden administration of not doing enough to end the conflict in Gaza.
01:11With Trump's history of anti-Muslim rhetoric, Samra describes her decision as a sacrifice.
01:17But she says it's one she's willing to take in the hopes that Trump will halt the violence
01:20in the Middle East.
01:23By voting for Donald Trump, I recognize what comes with a Donald Trump presidency.
01:27I'm willing to live in a state where there's, you know, fear at home, where there's more
01:33stringent immigration policies, where there's, you know, detrimental rhetoric.
01:38That's a sacrifice I'm willing to make as an Arab and a Muslim in America, in order
01:42for us to save lives in Gaza.
01:45And she's not the only one in the Muslim community to have changed her mind about the Democrats.
01:51Inia, who lives in Detroit, also says she will not be voting for Harris.
01:56Why would I vote for her? I voted for her and Biden four years ago. Now I feel guilty.
02:03Never again I'm voting for... Probably Democrats are pro-war. This is the history of Democrats.
02:09They like war. I'm not voting for Democrats anymore, for sure.
02:14Others in the community say they will vote for Harris in the hopes of keeping Trump out
02:17of office.
02:19I do believe that Donald Trump, the way things are going, we will end up with a dictator
02:25in office. It'll be a scary world for Muslims. It'll be a scary world for, you know, women.
02:34In 2017, Trump sparked outrage amongst the Muslim community when he imposed a travel
02:38ban from several Muslim-majority countries.
02:42According to plans drawn up by his top immigration adviser, Trump may re-impose the ban if he
02:47becomes president.
02:49This comes at a time when he seems to be trying to appeal to Arab-American and Muslim voters,
02:54inviting several Muslim leaders on stage with him at a campaign rally last week.
03:00Let's begin, Ian Reifowitz, Distinguished Professor at SUNY Empire State University
03:04in New York. Thank you, sir, for being with us. I hope you are well. How important is
03:09the Muslim vote in this election?
03:11Well, it's going to be such a close election that any community is important. Muslim Americans
03:18represent approximately 1-2 percent of the population, but they do play a large role,
03:24or a larger role, in Michigan, where they are disproportionately concentrated. We did
03:29see a Muslim mayor of a relatively small city, Hamimchak, come out in favor of Trump. So
03:36their vote does matter.
03:38Numerically, it's not a huge community. For example, if you want to talk about the sides—and
03:45I hate to use those words of what's going on in the Middle East—but the Jewish American
03:48community is about 3 percent of the population. And there's a real question about whether
03:54you're going to see some erosion there. Polling doesn't suggest you're going to see much of
03:58an erosion there over, for example, let's say, Kamala Harris being seen as too supportive
04:05or not condemning strongly enough some of the more extreme campus protests against Israel.
04:12In some ways, Harris is sort of caught between a rock and a hard place on this issue.
04:16Indeed. If you examine the intentions of both parties, there seems to be very little difference
04:22in how they view the situation with Israel, both of saying Israel has the right to defend
04:26itself, but clearly more indication from the Democrats that they would like to see what
04:31is happening stop.
04:33Right. Well, Donald Trump said recently that his main policy would be to, quote,
04:37let Israel finish the job, which doesn't sound like he would put any constraints at all on
04:45Israel. There's been tremendous constraints put on Israel by the Biden administration,
04:53but behind the scenes they have certainly tried to get Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel,
04:58to take fewer extreme measures. And you could argue that a Trump White House would give
05:07a green light to Netanyahu to do even more damage, to operate with less constraints and
05:14less restraint when it comes to Gaza. Your report earlier, a few minutes ago, gave people some hope.
05:20I do think it would have an impact on the election, as well as more importantly on the
05:27lives of people in the Middle East, if there was some kind of truce announced between Israel and
05:32Hezbollah and possibly one including Hamas before the election. We've got five days to go.
05:38There is always the opportunity for an October surprise. Well, today's the last day of October,
05:43and that would certainly be a big surprise that would help Paris.
05:46Indeed. We look and wait for that then, Ian. In terms of the way the world is looking at this,
05:51though, they look and hear the Biden administration saying to Netanyahu to be careful, to not kill
05:59civilians, to stop the violence. And in a sense, the Biden administration has taught the talk. But
06:05clearly it's had very little impact on Netanyahu, very little impact on Israel,
06:10because funding has been increased in recent weeks, an additional $8 billion given to Israel
06:16to help its military carry out what is happening on the ground right now. In terms of how Muslims
06:24are looking at this, though, one can only imagine that they feel they've got no friend in either
06:28party. Yes, I mean, you can certainly understand that. There was a push a few weeks ago where the
06:36Israeli government was told by the Biden administration, listen, you've got to get
06:40more aid into Gaza or else. And apparently that worked and more aid did flow into Gaza.
06:48So it's a question of better or worse, even if the better option may not be seen as the best
06:55option for Muslim Americans. They are in a very difficult situation. They are watching people that
07:03they care about suffer. Certainly Jewish Americans have seen that as well in Israel. It's not an easy
07:10decision, certainly for anybody. But one can look at the statement by Trump that he would let Israel
07:17finish the job. And I think if there's some daylight between the Biden-Harris and Trump
07:24approaches, I think it's that. Ian, what about other minorities in this election? Is there any other
07:31particular minority that you feel might have a say, might have an important voice? I suppose all
07:36voices are important, but you know what I'm getting at, is there one area we should be looking for?
07:40Right. Numerically speaking, Indian Americans have been a democratic group. They might come out even
07:45more strongly given that Kamala Harris does come from an Indian background. Her mother was an
07:51Indian immigrant to the United States. They are very important. Certainly the largest groups among
07:56non-white Americans are black and Latino Americans. There has been questions as to whether Harris will
08:03do as well as Biden did. Some polls, including a very well-publicized New York Times poll, showed
08:08her running behind Biden. However, more recently, an ABC News poll has showed her, even with black
08:14and Latino men who were seen as a particularly likely group to run, to support her less than
08:20they did Biden, they're actually supporting her more than they did Biden. From this ABC News poll,
08:25Harris is running plus 74 among black men compared to plus 60 for Biden, and Harris is running plus
08:3327 among Latino men compared to plus 23 for Biden. So I think you've got evidence in both directions.
08:39At the end of the day, with an election that appears to be this close, every group matters,
08:44but I think we've tried to cover in the last couple of minutes some of the most important ones.
08:48Ian Reifowitz, as always, pleasure to have you here on France 24 and hear your very well-researched
08:53and well-thought-out opinions. And based on research, of course, we must add Professor
08:58Ian Reifowitz, Distinguished Professor at SUNY Empire State University. Thank you for joining
09:02us here on France 24. Great to see you, sir. We'll keep you across all developments on the
09:07US presidential election campaign between now and November the 5th. That's next Tuesday and beyond.