Brajesh Upadhyay
BBC News, Washington

image source, Getty Images

Many believe Muslim votes could be the difference between winner and loser in the battleground state of Michigan.

Kamala Harris has struggled to win the full support of these traditionally Democratic voters who are angered by the Biden administration’s stance on the war in Gaza. Donald Trump tried to win over these voters by taking a trip to Dearborn, Michigan – a city with an Arab American majority.

That may add to Harris’ challenge in a dead heat, but some Muslim leaders who work on the ground for Democrats in Michigan also warn that treating the entire community as a monolith would be a mistake.

Mohammad Hassan, an elected member of the all-Muslim Hamtramck City Council, estimates that 80% of Bangladesh’s 25,000 Muslim community will vote for Harris, while the remaining 20% ​​could vote for Trump.

“But Yemeni Muslims in the same city can be 50-50 between Trump and Harris,” said Hassan, who has been involved in door-knocking operations in the state for nearly two decades.

He says the anger within the Arab Muslim community over the Gaza war is real, but unlike the Bangladeshi community, they are not turning out in large numbers.

According to another Muslim leader, there are also some voters within the Arab community who see Harris as the candidate who has the “temperament to find a solution to the conflict.”

“They are not naive people. They understand what it’s about,” said Anam Miah, a former council member.

Trump referred to people of Yemeni descent as people with a “terrorist background,” he says, during a speech in Pennsylvania.

“So when he tries to get their support in Michigan, he’s basically saying, I like you, but your people are terrorists,” Miah says.