Arab Americans support Obama, Democrats: poll

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Arab Americans have shifted their support to the Democratic Party over the past eight years and strongly favor Democrat Barack Obama in the U.S. presidential election, according to a poll released on Wednesday.

Support for the Republican party has plummeted after eight years of U.S. wars in Islamic countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, the Arab American Institute's poll found.

That could boost Obama's chances in battleground states like Michigan that have large Arab American populations.

While the two parties enjoyed roughly equal support among the United States' 3.5 million Arab Americans in 2000, 46 percent now identify with the Democratic Party and only 20 percent identify with the Republican Party.

Some 46 percent of Arab Americans said they will back Obama in the November 4 election, while 32 percent said they would support Republican John McCain, the poll found.

Independent candidate Ralph Nader, whose parents immigrated from Lebanon, drew 6 percent.

Obama's support increased to 54 percent when Nader was not included as a candidate.

The poll shows Obama lagging among independents, men and older voters in the Arab American community -- the same voter segments that he is having trouble connecting with in the general population, said Arab American Institute president James Zogby.

"It's clear that Obama has an edge, but at this point he is underperforming," Zogby said.

Arab Americans make up slightly more than 1 percent of the total U.S. population, but more than one-third of them live in Michigan, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia -- states that will be hotly contested in the election.

Those surveyed said the economy was the most important issue to them, followed by the Iraq war and health care.

Arab Americans, like the U.S. population as a whole, gave President George W. Bush low marks. Only 23 percent said he had done a good job in the White House.

The poll, conducted by polling firm Zogby International, was based on 501 interviews conducted between September 8 and September 13. It has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)