Bernie Sanders Swept Arab-American Vote by 2-1 Margin in Michigan

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By JTA March 10, 2016

Arab Americans in the Dearborn, Michigan area voted two to one for Bernie Sanders, according to a Dearborn-based Arab-American newspaper.

“Arab Americans voted 2 to 1 for Sanders in almost every east Dearborn precinct,” The Arab American News reported on the day after Sanders won the primary in Michigan in a surprise victory over Hillary Clinton, his rival in the race for the Democratic presidential nod who had been leading in the state.

Sanders had campaigned among Arab Americans, broadcasting campaign ads in the Dearborn area in Arabic, according to The Intercept, a news website. At an event Monday, on the eve of the primary, he said he would be even-handed in brokering peace between Arab and Israelis.

The Arab-American News had endorsed Sanders, citing what it said was his “unequivocal” condemnation of Islamophobia, and said his foreign policy would not be subject to pressure from “special interest groups.”

“His foreign policy will not be dictated by a military industrial complex that promotes war for profit or Christian Zionist groups that lobby Washington to support Israel for theological reasons,” the newspaper said, although it said his posture on Israel was deficient, in part because he defends Israel’s right to self defense and has blamed Palestinians in part for hostilities.

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