LONDON: A survey conducted for Arab News by YouGov reveals that although 62 percent of Arab Americans describe themselves as politically moderate (35 percent), liberal (13 percent) or very liberal (13 percent), a majority express conservative views on two key domestic issues: illegal immigration and abortion.
Perhaps most surprisingly for a population of immigrants or descendants of immigrants, 56 percent of respondents think US border controls should be tightened.
However, 24 percent think border controls should be relaxed — a liberal viewpoint that chimes with the position of neither the Democratic nor Republican candidate. Just 5 percent of over-55s want to see controls relaxed.
Fifty-one percent of respondents believe there are too many illegal immigrants in the US. This view is most common among those over 55 (61 percent) and those with the least education (66 percent).
“Interestingly, immigration seems to rank very highly in the minds of Arab Americans and honestly, as an immigrant myself, I wasn’t completely surprised by this,” Firas Maksad, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, told the Arab News podcast “Frankly Speaking.”
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He added: “Those who immigrated here legally and went through the process and paid their taxes tend to feel pretty strongly about those who are cutting in line and not paying their fair share.”
This, he said, could partly explain the large percentage of support for Republican candidate Donald Trump among Arab Americans.
As an issue, “illegal immigration often plays in favor of Trump rather than (Democratic candidate Kamala) Harris,” Maksad added.
However, one in three respondents rejected the suggestion that the US has too many illegal immigrants, while 16 percent said they do not know.
On abortion, one of the key fault lines between pro-choice Harris and Trump, who is seen as responsible for the Supreme Court overturning the landmark Roe v Wade decision — which since 1973 had guaranteed the right to pregnancy termination in the US — Arab Americans emerge as broadly conservative in their outlook.
Although only 14 percent (17 percent of men and 11 percent of women) believe abortion should be completely banned, 40 percent agree with the proposition: “Abortion should be allowed only under certain circumstances, including rape and threat to life.” Again, more men (44 percent) than women (37 percent) hold this position.
However, almost as many (38 percent) are in favor of abortion being allowed up to the ninth week of pregnancy, which is officially when an embryo turns into a fetus. Women (44 percent) are more supportive of this than men (33 percent).
One issue of concern to many Arab Americans is their experience of racism, harassment or hate attacks related to their ethnicity, religion or origins — 46 percent said they had experienced this and 50 percent said they had not.
Intriguingly, given the support for Trump revealed by the survey (45 percent said they will vote for him, against 43 percent for Harris), 46 percent of respondents said they expect racism and hate attacks against Arab Americans to increase during a Trump presidency, compared with 23 percent if Harris becomes president.
For 39 percent of respondents, Harris is also seen as being more sensitive to the national needs of Arab Americans than Trump (31 percent).
