Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-88psn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-16T15:11:45.576Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Identity, Attitudes, and the Voting Behavior of Mosque-Attending Muslim-Americans in the 2000 and 2004 Presidential Elections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2011

Dennis Patterson ,
Gamal Gasim  and
Jangsup Choi
Dennis Patterson*
Affiliation:
Texas Tech University
Gamal Gasim*
Affiliation:
Grand Valley State University
Jangsup Choi*
Affiliation:
Texas Tech University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Dennis Patterson or Jangsup Choi, TexasTech University, 2500 Broadway, Lubbock, TX 79409. E-mail: dennis.patterson@ttu.edu; or to Gamal Gasim, Grand Valley State University, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI 49401. E-mail: gasimg@gvsu.edu
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Dennis Patterson or Jangsup Choi, TexasTech University, 2500 Broadway, Lubbock, TX 79409. E-mail: dennis.patterson@ttu.edu; or to Gamal Gasim, Grand Valley State University, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI 49401. E-mail: gasimg@gvsu.edu
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Dennis Patterson or Jangsup Choi, TexasTech University, 2500 Broadway, Lubbock, TX 79409. E-mail: dennis.patterson@ttu.edu; or to Gamal Gasim, Grand Valley State University, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI 49401. E-mail: gasimg@gvsu.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In a post-September 11 world, no religious group in the United States has become more important yet remains more misunderstood than Muslim-Americans. This is particularly true with respect to the manner in which religious and political attitudes influence Muslim-Americans’ political behavior. This article addresses this issue by using data gathered from surveys taken in 70 mosques throughout the United States. With these data, this article maps the political and religious attitudes and behavior of mosque-attending Muslim-Americans and then analyzes the voting behavior of these respondents in the 2000 and 2004 Presidential elections. It will show that the cultural and religious traditions of Islam have resulted in most mosque-attending Muslim-Americans being social conservatives and, as a result, report having voted for Bush in 2000. It will also show that increasingly negative perceptions of the manner in which the United States war in Iraq has affected Muslims living American led many to switch loyalties and cast their ballots for Kerry in 2004.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , August 2011 , pp. 289 - 311
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Abramowitz, Alan I. 1995. “It's Abortion Stupid: Policy Voting in the 1992 Presidential Election.” The Journal of Politics 57:1976–1986.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abramson, Paul R., Aldrich, John H., and Rohde, David W.. 2007. Change and Continuity in the 2004 and 2006 Elections. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press.Google Scholar
Abramson, Paul R., Aldrich, John, Rickerhauser, Jill, and Rohde, David W.. 2007. “Fear in the Voting Booth: The 2004 Presidential Election.” Political Behavior 29:197–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aldrich, John H., Sullivan, John L., and Borgida, Eugene. 1989. “Foreign Affairs and Issue Voting: Do Presidential Candidates ‘Waltz Before a Blind audience.’ ”The American Political Science Review 83:123–141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alvarez, Michael R., and Nagler, Jonathan. 1998. “Economics, Entitlements, and Social Issues: Voter Choice in the 1996 Presidential Election.” American Journal of Political Science 42:1349–1363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Asher, Herbert B. 1984. Presidential Elections and American Politics: Voters, Candidates, and Campaigns Since 1952. Chicago, IL: The Dorsey Press.Google Scholar
Austin, Allan D. 1997. African Muslims in Ante-Bellum America: Transatlantic Stories and Spiritual Struggles. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bartels, Larry. 2000. “Partisanship and Voting Behavior, 1952–1996.” American Journal of Political Science 44:35–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berelson, Bernard, Lazerfeld, Paul, and McPhee, William. 1954. Voting. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Campbell, Angus, Converse, Philip, Miller, Warren, and Stokes, Donald. 1960. The American Voter. New York, NY: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Carmines, Edward G., and Stimson, James A.. 1980. “The Two Faces of Issue Voting.” The American Political Science Review 74:78–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carmines, Edward G., and Stimson, James A.. 1989. Issue Evolution: Race and the Transformation of American Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conover, Pamela Johnson. 1984. “The Influence of Group Identification on Political Perception and Evaluation.” Journal of Politics 46:760–789.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dearing, James, and Rogers, Everett M.. 1996. Agenda Setting. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diouf, Sylviane A. 1998. Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas. New York, NY: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Fukuyama, Francis. 1995. Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity. New York, NY: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Gelpi, Christopher, Reifer, Jason, and Feaver, Peter. 2007. “Iraq the Vote: Retrospective and Prospective foreign Policy Judgments on Candidate Choice and Casualty Tolerance.” Political Behavior 29: 151–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hetherington, Marc J. 1999. “The Effect of Political Trust on the Presidential Vote, 1968–96.” American Political Science Review 93:311–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hetherington, Marc J. 2005. Why Trust Matters. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hillygus, D. Sunshine, and Shields, Todd G.. 2005. “Moral Issues and Voter Decision Making in the 2004 Presidential Election. PS: Political Science & Politics 38:201–209.Google Scholar
Hurwitz, John, and Peffley, Mark. 1987a. “How Are Foreign Policy Attitudes Structured: A Hierarchical Model.” American Political Science Review 81:1099–1120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hurwitz, John, and Peffley, Mark. 1987b. “The Means and Ends of Foreign Policy as Determinants of Presidential Support.” American Journal of Political Science 312:236–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jelen, Ted G. ed. 1989. Religion and Political Behavior in the United States. New York, NY: Praeger.Google Scholar
Kam, Cindy D., and Kinder, Donald R.. 2007. “Terror and Ethnocentrism: Foundations of American Support for the War on Terrorism.” The Journal of Politics 69:320–338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karol, David, and Miguel, Edward. 2007. “The Electoral Cost of War: Iraq Casualties and the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election ”The Journal of Politics 69:633–648.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaufman, Karen. 2006. “The Gender Gap.” PS: Political Science and Politics 39:447–453.Google Scholar
Kennedy, Peter. 2003. A Guide to Econometrics. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Layman, G. C. 1997. “Religion and Political Behavior in the United States: The Impact of Beliefs, Affiliation, and Commitment from 1980 to 1994.” Public Opinion Quarterly 61:288–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lazerfeld, Paul, Berelson, Bernard, and Gaudet, H.. 1944. The People's Choice. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, Gregory B. 2005. “Same Sex Marriage and the 2004 Presidential Election.” PS: Political Science & Politics 38:195–199.Google Scholar
Long, J. Scott, and Freese, Jeremy. 2001. Regression Models for Categorical Dependent Variables Using STATA. College Station, TX: Stata Press.Google Scholar
Miller, Warren E. 1991. “Party Identification, Realignment, and Party Voting: Back to Basics.” American Political Science Review 85:557–568.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mockabee, Stephen T. 2007. “A Question of Authority: Religion and Cultural Conflict in the 2004 Election.” Political Behavior 29:221–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nimer, Mohamed. 2002. The North American Muslim Resource Guide: Muslim Communities in the United States and Canada. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Page, Benjamin I., and Brody, Richard. 1972. “Policy Voting and the Electoral Process: The Vietnam War Issue.” The American Political Science Review 66:979–995.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peffley, Mark, and Hurwitz, John. 1993. “Models of Attitude Constraint in Foreign Affairs.” Political Behavior 15:61–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Center, Pew Research. 2007. Muslim-Americans: Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream. http://pewresearch.org/assets/pdf/muslim-americans.pdf (Accessed on May 29, 2007).Google Scholar
Pharr, Susan J., and Putnam, Robert D.. 2000. Disaffected Democracies: What's Troubling the Trilateral Countries? Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polsby, Nelson W., and Wildovsky, Aaron. 1976. Presidential Elections: Strategies of American Electoral Politics. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons.Google Scholar
Tabachnick, Barbara G., and Fidell, Linda S.. 2001. Using Multivariate Statistics. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.Google Scholar