Exclusive | Muslim support for Democrats plunges as group opens to Trump’s Gaza plan: poll

Only a third of Muslim-Americans identify as Democrats as the party reels from political setbacks with a bloc of voters it hemorrhaged in the 2024 election cycle, according to a stunning survey exclusively shared with The Post.

When asked to identify their political party, 34% of Muslim respondents said Democrat, 34% said independent and 33% said Republican, according to a survey conducted by J.L. Partners last month in partnership with the Muslim American Leadership Alliance.

Meanwhile, a plurality (49%) opposed President Trump’s plan to transform the Gaza Strip into the “Riviera of the Middle East,” with 26% saying they supported the idea and 16% not giving an opinion one way or another.

Trump, 78, made waves Feb. 4 by suggesting that the US should “take over the Gaza Strip” and transform its coastal land into “the Riviera of the Middle East” after relocating its roughly 2 million Palestinian residents to neighboring countries.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly backed the plan, but Arab nations emphatically rejected it.

Many of Trump’s key policies drew support from Muslim-Americans, such as his push to deport illegal immigrants (43% support, 33% oppose), additional oil exploration (44% support, 25% oppose) and removing taxes on tipped income (62% support, 12% oppose).

Respondents also said Trump was more likely than his predecessor, Joe Biden, to broker peace in the Middle East by a margin of 52% to 48%.

During the 2024 campaign, then-Vice President Kamala struggled with liberal and progressive infighting over the Israel-Hamas war.

Despite her efforts to please both sides, Harris, 60, won just 20.3% of Muslim voters, down from the 69% Biden garnered in 2020, shocking exit poll data from the Council on American-Islamic Relations found.

By contrast, Trump notched 21.4% of Muslim support while Green Party nominee Jill Stein locked down 53%, CAIR’s data found.

About 11% of respondents in the J.L. Partners poll indicated that they have since come to regret their vote, while 72% said they’re still happy with theirs.

The survey also found that a shocking 29% support Hamas the most in the conflict, while just 14% favor Israel and 44% said neither side.

Democrats have been hoping that Trump’s staunch support of Israel could help the party recover lost ground with Muslim Americans. The J.L. Partners poll showed that Dems have managed to regain the edge over Republicans but are still generally below where they were five years ago.

A slim majority — 52% — view the Democratic Party very or somewhat favorably, while 36% see it unfavorably, the poll showed.

Meanwhile, 45% said they intend to back a generic House Democrat compared to 38% who plan to back a generic House Republican.

The J.L. Partners survey sampled 503 Muslims April 10-18 and had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.4 percentage points.

The samplewas composed of 278 men and 225 women.