The support of Arab American voters for Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama has increasingly been on the rise.

A Zogby poll conducted on behalf of the Arab American Institute found that some 54 percent of Arab Americans support Senator Barack Obama for president.

This is while only 27 percent are rooting for Republican Senator John McCain. In 2000, the Democratic/Republican break was 40 percent to 38.

More than three million Americans are of Arab descent, the majority of whom are Christians and only about 700,000 are Muslim.

"They (Arabs) know that McCain will probably continue the policies of the Bush administration … which has been lopsidedly pro-Israel. And the only chance for that to change is to have somebody who is more open-minded," political science professor Jim McClellan told Press TV.

"He (Obama) could bring about change that we need and McCain is just taking a step backwards," an Arab American woman told our correspondent Jihan Hafiz.

Arab Americans say they are mostly worried about the economy, war in Iraq, healthcare and education.

Many Arab American voters have also expressed concerns about the way the words 'Arabs' and 'Muslim' have been negatively used in the White House race, VOA reported.

McCain supporters have repeatedly accused Obama of being a Muslim. The senator is a Christian and came under fire earlier this year over his two-decade membership in Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ.

A recent poll in the state of Texas, which has a predominantly Republican base, has found that 23 percent of Texans think the Democrat is a Muslim.

MD/AA