Attend the DC launch:
American Muslim Poll 2025: Evolving Electorate, Enduring Challenges 

This event has reached capacity as of 10/15. Please email us at info@ispu.org if you have any questions. This event will not be livestreamed, but will be recorded. Click here to sign up to receive a copy of the recording.

You're invited to join us in Washington, D.C. on October 22

Join us for the in-person launch of ISPU’s American Muslim Poll 2025 on Wednesday, October 22 in Washington D.C.. The event will be moderated by Mehdi Hasan, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Zeteo, and will feature a panel discussion with:

• Rabiul Chowdhury, Co-founder, Muslims for Trump
• Layla Elabed, Organizing Director, Arab Americans for Progress, Listen to Michigan 
  
• Nabilah Islam Parkes, Georgia State Senator
  
• Salima Suswell, Founder & CEO, Black Muslim Leadership Council
  
• Saher Selod, PhD, ISPU Director of Research and report co-author
  
• Dalia Mogahed, ISPU scholar and report co-author 

Now in its seventh edition, our American Muslim Poll is a signature research project from ISPU, offering more than statistics—it provides a data-driven view of American Muslims' views and experiences. This publication includes results from the latest and most in-depth survey of Muslims in the US, as compared to other major faith groups, with new findings on how Muslims voted in 2024, how Gaza has impacted policy and candidate preferences, how discrimination is manifesting in 2025, and much more. By tracking views on civic engagement, political participation, and social issues like divorce, substance abuse, and elder care, ISPU provides a multidimensional portrait of American Muslims within the broader U.S. faith landscape. 

Details:

Wednesday, October 22
11:15 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.: Registration and lunch  
12:00 - 1:30 p.m.: Presentation and panel discussion 
1:30 - 2:00 p.m.: Networking

Note: Location details will be provided after registration in advance of the event. Registration will close 48 hours before the event. Only registered guests will be allowed to attend. Please bring a photo ID and arrive early to allow enough time for security checks.

Moderator:

Mehdi Hasan, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Zeteo, is an award-winning British-American journalist, broadcaster, and author. He is the founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of the new media company Zeteo. Mehdi is also a Guardian columnist, host of 'Head to Head' on Al Jazeera English and the best-selling author of 'Win Every Argument: The Art of Debating, Persuading, and Public Speaking'. He previously worked as an anchor at MSNBC and columnist for The Intercept.

Panelists:

Rabiul Chowdhury is a Bangladeshi-American engineer, entrepreneur, and political strategist. As Co-Chair of the Abandon Biden / Abandon Harris movement, he helped redirect over 117,000 votes in Pennsylvania’s Democratic primary, highlighting Muslim and immigrant voter independence. He later founded Muslims for Trump, organizing communities in key battleground states. Chowdhury has collaborated with figures such as Ambassador Ric Grenell and members of the Trump family, including in a meeting with President Donald Trump, to shape Muslim and Arab-American voter outreach for 2024 and beyond.

A former Co-Chair of Emgage Pennsylvania and Board Member of CAIR Philadelphia, he now serves on the Board of the Asian American Business Alliance and founded the Muslim Aid Initiative, a humanitarian nonprofit. In 2024, he resigned from Governor Josh Shapiro’s administration over Gaza policy. Professionally, he leads Naples Properties LLC and Naples American Steel, overseeing multimillion-dollar ventures in real estate and global trade. His work has been featured in Reuters, The New York Times, and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Layla Elabed is the Organizing Director for Arab Americans for Progress and the Director of Listen to Michigan. She served as the campaign manager for Listen to Michigan and is a co-founder of the Uncommitted National Movement, a multiracial, multigenerational coalition of anti-war and anti-genocide voters that reshaped the 2024 Democratic primary and redefined political accountability. Layla organizes at the intersection of racial justice, immigrant rights, and U.S. foreign policy—building campaigns that grow Arab American power, deepen Black–Arab solidarity, and shift local, state, and national policy through disciplined, community-rooted strategy. Her work focuses on creating sustainable infrastructure for collective action and advancing a vision of justice that centers communities most impacted by U.S. militarism and occupation abroad.

Nabilah Islam Parkes, Georgia State Senator, is the youngest woman ever elected to the Georgia State Senate. She is also the first Muslim woman and the first South Asian woman elected to the Senate. Nabilah is a lifelong organizer and community advocate. The daughter of working-class immigrants, Nabilah watched her parents work long hours to put food on the table. When she was in high school, her mother was injured at the warehouse. Nabilah saw firsthand the devastating effects our broken healthcare system can have on families. During her time in the Senate, Nabilah has been a staunch advocate for Georgia’s families, fighting to lower drug costs, make healthcare more affordable, fully fund our public health agencies, expand Medicaid, and protect abortion rights. 

Salima Suswell, Founder & CEO Black Muslim Leadership Council, is a highly accomplished entrepreneur, political strategist, organizer, and community leader. She has established and continues to expertly guide multiple companies and organizations, all with the underlying goal of enhancing and empowering underserved communities. Among her various roles, Suswell is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Evolve Solutions LLC, an award-winning management consulting firm serving at the intersection of politics and public policy. In 2023, Suswell founded the Black Muslim Leadership Council (BLMC), where she serves as Chief Executive Officer. This national nonprofit organization with a 501(c)(4) arm is dedicated to policy advocacy for urban communities, nonpartisan voter registration and turnout, civic education, and leadership development.

Saher Selod, PhD, is ISPU's Director of Research. Saher was formerly an Associate Professor and previous Chair of the Department of Sociology at Simmons University in Boston, MA. Her research expertise centers on the experiences of Muslims with surveillance. In her first book Forever Suspect: Racialized Surveillance of Muslim Americans in the War on Terror (Rutgers University Press 2018) examines how Muslim men and Muslim women experience gendered forms of racialization through their hyper surveillance because of the War on Terror. Her co-authored second book, A Global Racial Enemy: Muslims and Twenty-First Century Racism (Polity Press 2024) examines how the Global War on Terror has justified the detention, imprisonment, and hyper surveillance of Muslims in the United States, the United Kingdom, India, and China.

Dalia Mogahed is a scholar at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. Mogahed is the former Director of Research at ISPU, where she led the organization’s pioneering research and thought leadership programs on American Muslims. She is also the former Executive Director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, where she led the analysis of surveys of Muslim communities worldwide. With John L. Esposito, she co-authored the book Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think. President Barack Obama appointed Mogahed to the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships in 2009. She was invited to testify before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations about U.S. engagement with Muslim communities. Her 2016 TED talk was named one of the top TED talks that year. She is a frequent expert commentator in global media outlets and international forums. She is the CEO of Mogahed Consulting. Dalia is also the co-host, with Imam Mohamed Magid, of the ‘Quran Conversations‘ podcast.