Did Trump sway Muslim voters by promising to establish peace in Middle East?

Republican Donald Trump has secured a second term as president of the United States, winning 295 electoral votes to Democratic opponent Kamala Harris’s 226. Surprisingly, Muslim-majority areas in the US also supported Trump, contributing to his victory.

This outcome has raised questions: Did American Muslims genuinely start favouring Trump’s policies, or were other factors at play?

Prior to winning the presidential elections 2024 against Kamala Harris, Republican candidate Trump had claimed that Arabs and Muslims in the US would exercise their right to vote in favour of Donald Trump. 

“Muslims and Arabs in Michigan voters are with us because they want peace,” Trump said in his X handle. 

Muslims know that Kamala Harris and her cabinet will claim hundreds of thousands of Muslims’ lives by attacking the Middle East, said Donald Trump, adding, “She will begin a third world war.”

This statement appeared to resonate, as Trump won key states like Michigan. Analysts opined that the Biden administration’s policies on Palestine may have been a significant factor in Trump’s success.

Following the start of Israel's offensive on Gaza after the Hamas attack on October 7, the Biden administration supported Israel, providing military aid, including weapons, tanks, and ammunition.

Democratic government policy prompted anguish in the Muslims in the US, and experts believed that President Donald Trump used this aggression in his favour.

“Palestine is the focus point for the Muslims across the world, currently,” BBC Urdu quoted an expert, Dr Fazlur Rehman of the Indian Council of World Affairs.

He said the Arabs have not started liking President Trump suddenly, but they do not have a choice.

In contrast, the Biden administration kept itself silent against the worldwide protest sparked by US war support for Israel, which attracted American Muslims to Donald Trump, who claims to stop the war. 

Although in its previous tenure, the Trump administration supported Israel and shifted the US consulate to Jerusalem, which is a disputed Israel-occupied territory.