Frustrated Arab and Muslim voters in New Jersey divided on which candidate will bring change

Fifty-year-old Maged Judeh initially did not want to vote in Tuesday’s US election, he said while exiting the South Paterson library community center polling location in New Jersey.

Judeh, a Venezuelan Palestinian Muslim American, has lived in Paterson for over 25 years, a city with one of the largest Muslim and Arab populations in the United States. His father survived the 1948 Nakba – when more than 700,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled from their homes in the war surrounding Israel’s creation. Because of Israel’s current war in Gaza, which is funded with substantial US support, Judeh said he has been completely turned off to either major political party.

“Always the same color, the same system,” said Judeh, referring to Republicans and Democrats. “It’s gonna be always the same thing, especially what happens in Palestine”.

Like several other Arab and Muslim voters at the library that day, Judeh decided to vote for Dr Jill Stein of the Green party. Stein has been forceful in condemning what she describes as Israel’s genocide in Gaza and has called for an immediate ceasefire, an end to the territory’s blockade, humanitarian aid, and the release of hostages and political prisoners, according to her platform.

Both Democrats and Republicans have received criticism for their failure to meaningfully address the war in Gaza, a priority issue for Muslim and Arab Americans. Donald Trump has voiced support for Israel’s war in Gaza several times, while simultaneously promising to end the war. And Kamala Harris, as part of the Biden administration, has continued to supply arms to Israel’s military and failed to negotiate a ceasefire agreement.

Volunteers set up a phone bank at the Arab American Community Center in Clifton, New Jersey on Tuesday. Photograph: Kholood Eid/The Guardian

“I don’t see [why it] always has to be two parties. What about the people that think different, like me? I don’t think like Democrat or Republican. I want a change,” Judeh said. “So this change could be the third party”.

Paterson, colloquially known as Little Palestine, is home to upwards of 50,000 Arab and Muslim people in total. Most of the Paterson voters the Guardian spoke to said that they voted because of the option of a third-party candidate and the desire to make their concerns about Palestine heard.

Adel Ahelawi, a 58-year old Palestinian American who was born in Jordan, ultimately voted for Harris despite his concerns about her stance on Palestine. “I’m not even 100% sure,” he said. “But she’s the best of the worst.” Ahelawi, who also worked at a polling place in Paterson on Tuesday, added that he found Harris to be “a little more concerned” than Donald Trump about humaritian issues in Gaza, including lack of access to food and medicine.

Trump, Ahelawi said, will “probably change Israel’s maps like the way they want it”.

The school psychiatrist Wijdan Abdallah, a Palestinian originally from the West Bank, spent election day volunteering at a phone banking event hosted by the Palestinian American Community Center (PACC) in Clifton, New Jersey. Over 3,000 calls were made to residents in Paterson during Tuesday’s event. Abdallah, who has voted for the Democratic party in previous elections, had considered abstaining from voting, but ultimately decided to vote for the Green party after researching their stance on Palestine. She hopes that voting for a third-party candidate will help them secure enough votes to access federal funding.

“Having only two options here in America seemed like it wasn’t enough anymore,” she said. “What we have experienced when it came to the economy, what we have experienced when it came to genocide, it was just not enough.”

Abdallah said that many Palestinians he spoke to in Paterson are “frustrated”. “They would say, ‘Well, yeah, I am registered to vote, but I don’t know [who] to vote for. They both support the genocide. It’s not going to make a difference.”

Farouk Sheiks, a Palestinian American voter, outside a polling location in Patterson, New Jersey. Photograph: Kholood Eid/The Guardian

Youness Haddadi, a 44-year-old school bus driver from Morocco who cast his ballot for Stein at the community center, said he always knew he would vote, just not for Harris. “I have to see my vote. My vote has to be there,” said Haddadi, who has lived in Paterson for over 45 years.

Haddadi added that many of his friends have reached a similar decision to support a third-party candidate versus not voting at all. “All my friends are voting today. They have [the] same idea that I have. Together, we [make] this decision to get to neutral, just to tell them [that] what’s happening overseas is not acceptable at all,” he said, referring to Harris and Trump. “We don’t feed the angry for other countries.”

Farouk Sheiks, the owner of a local fitness center and third-party candidate supporter, also said that voting was “very, very, important” to him as a Palestinian given the “genocide that’s going on in Palestine right now and Lebanon”.

“We have to come out and vote and let these politicians know that what’s going on there needs to end right now and needs to stop. We need to stop the genocide,” said 50-year-old Sheiks outside of the community center.

Sitting out of the election is not a “good decision”, said Sheiks, who acknowledged the struggle he and others feel given US support of Israel’s war in Gaza.

“We want everybody to vote. Doesn’t matter who. Just vote,” Sheiks said. “But I say, vote for the lesser evil.”

Read more of the Guardian’s 2024 US election coverage

• When do polls close?

• When will we know the result?

• Where is abortion on the ballot?

• Senate, House and governor results

• Everything you need to know