Many Arab Americans in Michigan followed through on their pledge to vote against Kamala Harris on Tuesday, with fewer than one in seven Muslims casting a ballot for the Democratic nominee, according to an exit poll released Friday.
In fact, about 59% of the state’s Muslim residents voted for Green Party candidate Jill Stein, according to the poll, conducted through a partnership between Molitico Consulting and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group.
About 22% cast a ballot for Trump, and 14% voted for Harris, according to the survey of 502 Muslim voters.
The Trump campaign heavily courted Arab American voters in Dearborn and Hamtramck, two cities with the highest concentration of Arab Americans in the U.S.
Meanwhile, Harris shut down pro-Palestinian protesters at her first Detroit rally and repeatedly refused to meet with leaders of the Uncommitted Movement, causing the antiwar group to decline to endorse her.
Trump narrowly defeated Harris in Michigan, 49.7% to 48.3%.
Muslim Americans in other states also favored Stein, according to a nationwide poll by CAIR and Molitico. About 53% voted for Stein, while Trump received 21% and Harris 20% nationwide.
“Our final exit poll of American Muslim voters confirms that opposition to the Biden administration's support for the war on Gaza played a crucial role, leading to a sharp drop in support for Vice President Harris compared to the support President Biden received from Muslim voters in 2020, and a sharp rise in support for third party candidate Jill Stein,” CAIR National Government Affairs Director Robert S. McCaw said. “President-Elect Trump also managed to make in-roads with Muslim voters.”
Until this election, a majority of Muslims voters in Michigan favored Democrats, although some local Arab Americans and conservatives found common ground in recent months over their opposition to LGBTQ+ rights.
