US Muslims have embarked on a vast drive get the community registered to vote in the presidential election to build what could be a potentially powerful voice in deciding the winner.

Three quarters of Muslims polled recently said they would support Kerry to just seven percent for Republican Bush. The poll of 1,700 Muslims was published September 22 by Georgetown University's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.

Racial profiling, the detention and deportation of an unknown number of young men from Arab and Muslim countries, some for fairly minor immigration violations, and the Justice Department (news - web sites)'s crackdown on suspect Muslim charities have all fueled a sense of persecution.

Reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigation may step up surveillance of mosques and renew a program of random interrogations of Muslims in the lead up to the elections has stoked old fears.