BOSTON, July 28 (UPI) -- Arab Americans appear set to abandon President Bush, endangering his hopes of carrying key industrial states, the Boston Globe said Wednesday.
"A July tracking poll conducted by Zogby International for the Arab American Institute found that only 25 percent of Arab Americans say Bush should be re-elected," Derrick Z. Jackson wrote in a Globe editorial.
"This could spell trouble for Bush if there are tight races in battleground states like Michigan, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania where Zogby predicts a half-million Arab Americans will vote," Jackson wrote.
The most recent polls show Bush pulling ahead of Democratic presumptive candidate John Kerry in Florida thanks to a rebounding state economy. But Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania have experienced almost no industrial or manufacturing job creation and the loss of Arab American votes could hit the president badly in those states.
In the 2000 election, 46 percent of Arab Americans voted for Bush compared to 38 percent for Democratic candidate Al Gore and 14 percent for Ralph Nader.
