Muslim voters in Georgia oppose Harris and Trump over both candidates' support for Israel

A growing group of Muslim voters in Georgia say they will support neither Vice President Kamala Harris nor former President Donald Trump in next month's elections because of both candidates' support for Israel amid the ongoing conflict. course in the Middle East.

Harris has said she supports Israel's right to defend itself and would not deny the country weapons, but she has also called for a ceasefire in Gaza, while Trump recently said that he was the “protector” of Israel and reaffirmed his support for the Jewish state.

In battleground Georgia, where Trump narrowly lost in 2020 to President Joe Biden, the Peach State could help determine whether Harris or Trump wins the presidency.

Georgia's Muslim population could also impact which candidate wins the state's 16 electoral votes. Muslim voters across the country are virtually tied between Harris and Trump, with Harris leading by just a single point, according to a recent Arab American Institute poll.

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A growing group of Muslim voters in Georgia say they will not support Vice President Harris or former President Trump because of their support for Israel. (Getty Images)

Kristen Truitt, a Muslim American voter from Atlanta, voted for Democrats in previous elections but now says the party won't have her support over its stance on Israel.

“Just giving unlimited funds and access to Israel, I think it's totally ridiculous,” Truitt told Fox 5 Atlanta.

This comes just before the first anniversary of the ongoing war in Gaza between Israeli forces and Hamas terrorists. The conflict began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel and took more than 250 hostages, triggering retaliation by the Israeli military.

The Hamas government's Health Ministry in Gaza estimates that more than 41,000 people have been killed in the conflict, although it does not distinguish between civilian and terrorist deaths. More than 1,500 people are believed to have been killed in Israel since the start of the conflict, with most of them killed on October 7 and immediately afterward.

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Vice President Kamala Harris during a campaign event at the Philip Chosky Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Wednesday, September 25, 2024. (Rebecca Droke/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The growing group of Muslim voters in Georgia and across the country have said they will not vote for Harris or Trump because of the support both sides have expressed for Israel in its war in Gaza, and the conflict now extends to 'to include Israel attacking Hezbollah terrorist targets. in Lebanon.

“What we're trying to say is we should really abandon the logic of voting for the 'lesser of two evils,'” Kareem Rosshandler, Georgia co-chair of the Abandon Harris campaign, told Fox 5.

The campaign group “Abandon Harris” is urging Muslims to vote for a third party to send the message to Republicans and Democrats that they need to win the votes of the Muslim community.

“I think the main thing is to say that the Muslim community in the United States will not be taken for granted,” Rosshandler said.

Rosshandler said the group has already secured commitments from more than 10,000 Muslim voters to support third-party candidates. Some third-party candidates, including Libertarian Chase Oliver and the Green Party's Jill Stein, have criticized Israel's war in Gaza.

Former President Donald Trump, Republican presidential candidate, speaks during a town hall event in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Friday, October 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)

The loss of Muslim voters is expected to hurt Harris more than Trump, as the Republican nominee has already struggled to secure Muslim votes.

“It would essentially have a greater negative impact on the Harris-Waltz ticket than on Trump-Vance,” Alicia Hughes, an assistant professor of law at Emory University who is also a voting expert, told Fox 5 Atlanta. “Trump, historically, has not been able to count on these votes.”

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Hughes also says that if Harris or Trump were more openly critical of Israel, that might not improve their election chances either.

“Chances are you'll lose more from the change than you'd actually gain,” she said.