Ohio voters reject Trump, favor Clinton

COLUMBUS OHIO: Ohio, the important swing state lived up to its reputation. It rejected Donald Trump stopping him for now, from clinching the Republican presidential nomination. It also embraced Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders, making her a clear choice for the Democratic presidential nominee for the 2017 elections. Primaries, caucuses are usually tame affairs. But thanks to billionaire Donald Trump’s demagoguery, xenophobia, hate speeches and violent rallies, the primaries have become almost as passionate and important as election nights. For the 3.3 Muslims, living in the USA, the primaries have become all important. They showed up in large numbers to vote, many for the first time. They wanted to make sure that Donald Trump did not win and if he did, there was someone like Hillary Clinton stopping him from becoming the next president of the United States. The American Muslims are very concerned and fearful of the hate-mongering campaign that Donald Trump is running; painting all Muslims with the same brush calling them terrorists and demanding they be banned from entering the USA. “Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric is really damaging for us.” A Muslim woman told Arab News. “My non-Muslim colleague who does not support Donald Trump told me that his family was upset with him for not believing Trump’s opinions about the Muslims. He showed me a message from his aunt, posted on Facebook page. It said that the Muslims were very dangerous people who hated the Americans and wanted to bring the Shariah law to America.” I pointed out to my colleague that most Muslim countries in the world did not have Shariah law how could it be enforced in the US. “I am having a terrible time with my mother over the Muslim issue”, a young Bernie Sanders supporter told Arab News. She never researches anything. She believes everything she hears from Donald Trump. I told her he is a big liar and a bigot. If Muslims are so scary, why does he do business with them? He has so much money invested in Dubai.” Muslim voting pattern in the USA was not notable in the past. It was usually scattered and it did not have much visibility or impact. But after Sept. 11, that changed. Most Muslims now tend to vote as a block. The majority also switched to supporting the Democratic Party. President Obama got a big chunk of the Muslim votes in both terms. During this primary elections there was a difference; Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders the Democratic hopeful, divided the Muslim votes and household. One young Muslim woman told Arab News, “My grandmother voted for Hillary Clinton. My mother and I supported Bernie Sanders. My husband voted for Hillary Clinton. Now that Clinton appears to be the clear winner we can all unite and vote for her. We all want to stop Trump.” (I asked her five year-old-son Yusuf who he supported. He said, “My mom”). Most Muslims appear to be anti-Trump but according to some surveys, there are about 7.5% Muslims who do support him. They feel he will make America financially stronger and is the only one who can really stop Daesh. The elections of 2017 will have far-reaching consequences for the Muslims if Trump is elected. Many are hoping that the primary elections will hold the trump card that will stop Trump from triumph.   Arab News