In a historic shake-up, both Muslim and Jewish voters introduced fresh dynamics to the 2024 presidential election. While Jewish Americans largely continued their Democratic support, a noticeable minority within select locales—such as zip codes in New York City — shifted toward President-elect Donald Trump. 

Meanwhile, many Muslim and Arab American voters, frustrated with the Democratic Party’s handling of the Gaza conflict and the American border, departed from their traditional support— a move that proved crucial in battleground states like Michigan.

A turning point for Muslim voters

For Muslim and Arab American communities, dissatisfaction with the Democrats was pronounced. According to a nationwide exit poll by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), fewer than 50% of Muslim voters supported Vice President Kamala Harris—a significant drop from the 65-70% who backed Joe Biden in 2020. 

Many Muslim voters instead turned to Green Party candidate Jill Stein, whose call to end U.S. military support for Israel reportedly resonated deeply in communities impacted by the war in Gaza. “This is the first time in more than 20 years that the Muslim community has been split between three candidates,” Robert McCaw, CAIR’s director of government affairs, told Voice of America.

Ms. Stein received 53% overall support from Muslim voters surveyed by Molitico Consulting. Mr. Trump claimed 21%, and Ms. Harris followed with 20%.

The shift away from Ms. Harris was particularly strong in Michigan, a state home to sizable Arab and Muslim populations. In Hamtramck—the first majority-Muslim city in the U.S.—Mr. Trump took 43% of the vote, compared to just 13% in 2020, while Ms. Harris captured 46%. That’s down from 85% for the Democratic party in 2020. This shift, according to VOA, helped Trump secure Michigan by about 84,000 votes.

In Dearborn, where more than 55% of residents are of Middle Eastern descent, Ms. Harris’s support slipped to 36%, down from nearly 70% for President Biden — while Mr. Trump raked in 42% of the vote, an increase from of 12% in 2020.

In this election, some Muslim voters reportedly expressed discontent with the way progressive voices in the Democratic Party gave platforms to groups they view as linked to radical ideologies. 

Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, explained this dynamic to The Washington Times.

“For too long, the radical Islamists have been the loudest voice of Muslims, and me and many of my colleagues in the Muslim reform movement have been working against that,” he said, adding that concerns over immigration drove Muslims to the polls against Ms. Harris.

“President Trump’s ‘Muslim ban’ was not a Muslim ban,” he said, referencing the Trump administration’s controversial moves to limit radical Islamist entry during his previous tenure. “It was actually an Islamic ban to stop immigration of the most radical militants of the planet from those six states that were identified, and yet it was, by the left, identified as a Muslim ban — when in fact, many of us said ‘Legal immigration is what we support. We [just don’t] want the immigration of people that don’t believe in what it means to be American,’” he said.

Mr. Jasser also argued that ardent anti-Israel nonprofit organizations have pushed divisive agendas, too, overshadowing the genuine ideological diversity of the Muslim community that actually exists within America’s borders. 

“The Biden administration, by empowering the Islamists… gave them more influence than they’d ever had,” he said. This influence, Mr. Jasser believes, led some voters to express their dissatisfaction by choosing either Ms. Stein or Mr. Trump — rather than the Democratic party.

Jewish voters show mixed sentiments but largely support Harris

While polling shows that the majority of Jewish voters continued their trend of supporting the Democratic Party, a modest shift toward Mr. Trump was certainly evident in certain areas. Nationally, approximately 79% of Jewish voters cast their ballots for Ms. Harris, according to Edison Research. 

However, in New York state, Mr. Trump’s support among Jewish voters increased to 45%, up from 30% in 2020, according to Fox News exit polls. Concerns over antisemitism and the Democratic Party’s perceived handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict appeared to be motivating factors, the New York Post reported.

Despite Ms. Harris holding a strong two-to-one lead over Mr. Trump among Jewish Americans nationwide, New York told a different story: there, Mr. Trump narrowed the gap dramatically, with Ms. Harris securing only a slim 54% to 46% edge.

Yet, for one Jewish voter in Los Angeles working in the nonprofit human rights sector, the choice to support Ms. Harris reflected her deep commitment to values rooted in her Jewish identity. “I work in the area of human rights, and I believe in all human rights,” she told The Washington Times, speaking on background. She emphasized that, for her, voting for Ms. Harris meant preserving the core values she believed in. 

“Look, I think all people are important… I think all humans are human beings. And Harris embodies a lot of those values I really deeply care about,” she added.

Expressing concern about the growing polarization, the Angeleno admitted that her views clearly don’t align with those of most Americans, given the immense support Donald Trump received on election day. “I don’t understand it—how a convicted felon, a misogynist who wants to take away rights, could have so much support. I think we need to value all human lives, and as a Jew, I feel that we have a particular responsibility to prevent injustice.”

She spoke of her concerns regarding authoritarianism and America’s role in international conflicts. “I fear dictatorship. I fear authoritarian rule,” she continued, noting she felt the election demanded a broad perspective, one she felt Ms. Harris would have espoused. 

She also pointed to the long-standing Jewish principle of “never again,” emphasizing her commitment to opposing genocide wherever it appears and expressing her discomfort with U.S. arms supplies in international conflicts. “As a Jewish person, I feel it’s essential that we advocate for the dignity of all people, that we remember our history and oppose injustice everywhere. I want a world where this [Gaza] conflict would have never happened.”

Nevertheless, other Los Angeles Jews aren’t in agreement. “Since Oct. 7 I’ve been paying more attention to things related to Israel, and I care more than I did before,” another Jew named Avi told the Jerusalem Post. “I haven’t been particularly happy with how the Biden-Harris administration has handled Israel since Oct. 7. In the immediate aftermath it was OK but since then I think they’ve put a leash on Israel.”

Maury Litwack of the Teach Coalition, who tracked Jewish voting patterns in New York and battleground states, observed increased frustration with Democratic responses to antisemitism, particularly on college campuses, on X.

The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) also reportedly contributed some record-breaking $15 million to support Mr. Trump, spurred by concerns that the Democratic Party’s alignment with progressive causes distanced it from Jewish voters’ needs. 

This sense of disconnect appeared to play out in some Democratic primary contests earlier in the year, where prominent left-wing figures like Representatives Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush lost their seats in primary elections, reportedly due, in part, to Jewish voter backlash over their stances on Israel.

Trump’s outreach to Muslim and Jewish voters

Mr. Trump’s campaign recognized these evolving voter sentiments and took steps to engage both communities. In Hamtramck, Michigan, Mr. Trump visited Muslim-majority neighborhoods, promising a diplomatic approach to the Gaza conflict. 

And in his September speech in Washington, D.C., on “Fighting Antisemitism in America,” the now-president-elect reiterated his commitment to tackling this issue—a message that resonated with some Jewish voters.

For both Muslim and Jewish voters, economic concerns played a significant role, with issues like inflation and education joining foreign policy as major election motivators. In Hamtramck, Bangladeshi-American activist Asm Kamal Rahman said he voted Republican for the first time, driven primarily by economic concerns.

“I think everybody that lives here, they look at the issues that affect them here: the economy, the education system affecting the families,” Mr. Rahman told VOA.

• Emma Ayers can be reached at eayers@washingtontimes.com.