WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 Surveys and reports published this week show that as many as 70 per cent of the registered Muslim voters may vote for the Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

According to these surveys, the support for Mr Kerry stems from a general dislike for President George W. Bush in America's Muslim community. Many Muslims blame Mr Bush for making policy decisions that have made life difficult for them in America. Most of them are upset with the Patriot Act that they say has made it difficult for Muslims to come to America, as students or immigrants.

Policies of the Bush administration, they say, also have forced thousands of Muslims to relocate, forcing some to seek asylum in Canada while others had to return to their home countries.

Many among them complain that Mr Bush's war against terror is actually a war against Islam and that the Bush administration has no regard for their faith or their community.

Muslim advocacy groups reflected these feelings when they publicly appealed to their supporters to vote for Mr Kerry. But some also urged caution saying that an en mass support for Mr Kerry will further eradicate an already weak Muslim presence in the Republican Party and may make life even more difficult for them if Mr Bush is re-elected.

Ignoring such cautions, the Muslim American Political Action Committee, an umbrella group representing several Muslim organizations, has officially endorsed Mr Kerry for president.

But two mainstream Muslim organizations - the Islamic Society of North America and the Islamic Circle of North America - have refused to do so, saying that they want Muslims to make their own individual decisions rather than voting en bloc. And at their recent meetings they allowed both Democratic and Republican parties to set up campaign offices. But the Bush campaign office at ISNA's annual gathering looked deserted while the majority lined up before the Democratic Party's booth to express their support for Mr Kerry.

Meanwhile, another advocacy group, the Muslim American Society, has set up a database, listing more than 700,000 Muslim voters, including more than 100,000 in each of the three battleground states of Florida, Michigan and Ohio.

The information, the group says, will enable the American Muslim community "to pursue political objectives in a strategic manner."

Exit polls in 2000 showed Muslims supported Mr Bush in large numbers, this year just 1-in-10 are likely to cast a vote for the president. This survey of over 500 Arab-Americans by the Arab American Institute and Zogby International was also taken in four battleground states Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Florida where both parties are struggling to win over the still undecided voters.

A separate report on Detroit-area, which has the largest concentration of Arabs in the United States, found similar numbers. Just 11 per cent approved of Mr Bush's performance, while 85 per cent disapproved.

Another major Muslim group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, says that there are seven million Muslims in the United States, which gives them a major political clout in a close election as this year's is predicted to be.

But non-Muslim groups dispute this number. Surveyors Howard Fienberg and Iain Murray of the Statistical Assessment Service reported that there are about 2 million US Muslims. Another recent study commissioned by the American Jewish Committee puts the number between 1.9 million and 2.8 million.

Muslim organizations reject this figure as distorted and claim that the surveyors want to reduce their numbers to make them look weak and vulnerable.

An Arab-American pollster John Zogby estimates that US Muslims are about 30 per cent African-American, 20 per cent Pakistani, 15 per cent Arab American and 13 per cent Indian. About 20 per cent come from Iran, Turkey, Africa and Asia.

We have an obligation to make our voices heard on a number of important issues, says CAIR's executive director, Nihad Awad.

The CAIR s action plan for encouraging Muslims to vote includes mobilization in mosques through sermons, lectures and announcements.