scoone
01-17-2004, 10:10 AM
Support among Arab-Americans for President Bush has dropped sharply from highs reached soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, a poll released on Friday said.
Just 38 percent of Arab-Americans gave Bush a favorable overall performance rating in the Zogby poll of 500 Arab American voters conducted Jan. 9-14, which also showed Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean gaining among Arab-American Democrats and independents.
The performance figure was 43 percent in July 2003 and 83 percent in an October 2001 poll, said the survey commissioned by the Washington-based Arab American Institute and conducted by pollster John Zogby's Zogby International.
The main reason for the decline is disappointment over Bush's Mideast policy, said Arab American Institute President James Zogby, who noted that only 18 percent of those polled approve the president's handling of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
James and John Zogby are brothers.
"Arab-Americans most concerned about the Arab-Israeli conflict seem to be saying that the president has not done enough to bring the parties to the table," James Zogby said in a statement.
Only 28 percent of those polled said that if elections were held today they would vote to re-elect the president compared to 33.8 percent last year. More than 45 percent voted for Bush in 2000.
With presidential elections less than a year away, the poll could be a cause of concern for Bush in potential swing states like Michigan, home to one of the largest Arab populations outside the Middle East.
The survey was good news for Dean, whose lead among Arab-American Democrats and independents jumped from 14.2 percent in July 2003 to 36 percent this month.
Dean's gain came at the expense of Sen. John Kerry and Rep. Richard Gephardt. If the Democratic presidential primary were held today, Zogby's survey showed retired Gen. Wesley Clark placing a distant second behind the former Vermont governor with just 9 percent of Arab-American support.
The Zogby poll has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.
Just 38 percent of Arab-Americans gave Bush a favorable overall performance rating in the Zogby poll of 500 Arab American voters conducted Jan. 9-14, which also showed Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean gaining among Arab-American Democrats and independents.
The performance figure was 43 percent in July 2003 and 83 percent in an October 2001 poll, said the survey commissioned by the Washington-based Arab American Institute and conducted by pollster John Zogby's Zogby International.
The main reason for the decline is disappointment over Bush's Mideast policy, said Arab American Institute President James Zogby, who noted that only 18 percent of those polled approve the president's handling of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
James and John Zogby are brothers.
"Arab-Americans most concerned about the Arab-Israeli conflict seem to be saying that the president has not done enough to bring the parties to the table," James Zogby said in a statement.
Only 28 percent of those polled said that if elections were held today they would vote to re-elect the president compared to 33.8 percent last year. More than 45 percent voted for Bush in 2000.
With presidential elections less than a year away, the poll could be a cause of concern for Bush in potential swing states like Michigan, home to one of the largest Arab populations outside the Middle East.
The survey was good news for Dean, whose lead among Arab-American Democrats and independents jumped from 14.2 percent in July 2003 to 36 percent this month.
Dean's gain came at the expense of Sen. John Kerry and Rep. Richard Gephardt. If the Democratic presidential primary were held today, Zogby's survey showed retired Gen. Wesley Clark placing a distant second behind the former Vermont governor with just 9 percent of Arab-American support.
The Zogby poll has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.