Iranian Americans Join to Promote Political Activism - Washington Post

The Washington Post concludes that how the Iranian/American community will vote is an unknown factor:

Some Iranian Americans said they are planning to vote for the Democratic nominee, Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), because of concern about civil liberties. But the community is by no means aligned with one political party.

Many say they prefer President Bush because of his firm stand toward the Iranian government. The Iranian American PAC, which focuses on domestic issues, has given funds to Democrats and Republicans.

Mehdi Bozorgmehr, a professor at the City University of New York who has studied Iranian Americans, said little information is available on their voting patterns.

"What is important is for the first time, you really are seeing a movement in the community to get the vote out," he said. more

But recent California poll of immigrants appears to give the advantage to the Republican party.

Now it’s the Democrats who are sweating, not the once-divided Republicans. Lately, noted Republican pollster Stephen Kinney, large numbers of Latinos — especially Latinas — have begun registering as “decline-to-state” voters and rejecting the Democratic Party.

Kinney and many others believe the Democrats have taken immigrants for granted for too long. Nobody knows if the move by Latinos toward “decline to state” is a harbinger of a sea change in immigrant voter sympathies in other immigrant groups, but Kinney noted, “It’s definitely not good news for the Democrats.”

With immigrant interest in the Democrats waning somewhat, some GOP groups and activists are using the opening to interest immigrants in voting for and contributing money to Bush. Although Latinos get much of the attention, because they represent a potentially vast voting bloc, the Iraq War has enlivened Middle Eastern immigrant groups as well, and some are clearly siding with the GOP. more

We will know soon enough.

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