Two surveys show Arab American voters favor Democrats for Congress overall, but one found that most respondents who backed President Donald Trump in 2024 still preferred Republicans ahead of Michigan’s Senate election.
The Michigan Department of State’s candidate list includes Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers among those seeking the seat. The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
The Washington Post-Schar School poll, conducted from Aug. 20-Sept. 7, included 358 U.S. adults who reported Arab ancestry and also identified as Arab. Among 325 registered voters in the survey, 58% favored Democratic candidates for Congress and 34% favored Republicans.
Within the poll, 99 respondents said they had voted for Trump in 2024. Of them, 73% favored Republicans for Congress, compared with 26% for Democrats; the subgroup’s margin of error was 13 percentage points.
The Arab American Institute commissioned a separate online survey of 500 likely Arab American voters from Oct. 16-23. It found 59% planned to vote for the Democratic congressional candidate in their district and 26% for the Republican. The institute said 31% identified as independents, 82% reported economic hardship from rising costs, and the margin of error was 4.5 percentage points.
Views of the president were also negative in the Post-Schar School results: 70% of Arab American registered voters disapproved of Trump’s handling of the economy, 80% of his handling of Israel and Gaza, and 75% of his handling of Iran.
In an interview with The National, Yahya Basha said he now backs El-Sayed after supporting Trump in 2024. Basha, a Syrian American physician who helped mobilize Arab and Muslim American support for Trump’s campaign, cited economic concerns, the wars in Gaza and Iran, and the president’s remarks about El-Sayed’s name and religion. He said he continued to approve of Trump’s approach to Syria. “I don't want religion to become his comedy material,” Basha said.
El-Sayed’s campaign platform supports Medicare for All, opposes direct funding without limits for foreign militaries and calls for an end to hostilities in Iran.
Neither survey asked how respondents would vote in Michigan’s Senate race. The Washington Post-Schar School survey covered the U.S. nationally, and the Arab American Institute poll did not break out voters who backed Trump in 2024. Michigan voters will choose their next senator Tuesday, Nov. 3.
