Follow us on social

google cta
Did Israel hurt the Harris vote in Michigan?

Did Israel hurt the Harris vote in Michigan?

Foreign policy was low on voters minds, but in these critical counties, Harris was underperforming.

Reporting | QiOSK
google cta
google cta

(Updated 7:45 a.m. ET)

Foreign policy was way down on the list of voters' concerns in Tuesday's election, according to the exit polls, something that was expected.

It is not entirely clear, however, whether President Biden's Israel policy hurt the Democratic vote in swing states, particularly in Michigan, where returns Tuesday night indicated that Vice President Harris's performance in key Arab-American/Muslim counties like Wayne County (home to Dearborn) and Washtenaw County (home to University of Michigan) — were not rising to the level of President Biden's performance four years earlier.

This could mean thousands of critical votes in a race that ultimately was called for Donald Trump early this morning.

Unofficial results in Dearborn reported overnight showed 27% for Harris and a stunning 46% for Trump and 22% for Jill Stein. The Mayor of Dearborn did not endorse Trump, but would not endorse Harris either, mainly because of the administration's Israel policy.

As of 7:30 a.m. ET today, Harris was winning Washtenaw County by 71% with 95% of the vote in; Biden won it by 72% in 2020. Meanwhile, Trump was getting 26% of the vote in Washtenaw, compared to 25% in 2020, so not so far off from 2020 results. However, in Wayne County, Harris was winning by 63%, which is lower than Biden's 68% in 2020, and third party candidate Jill Stein was getting nearly 1.5% — over 12,600 votes — which was much more than what she was showing in other Michigan counties. Trump was at 33% in Wayne, outperforming his 30% vote total of 2020.

In the Associated Press's VoteCast exit polls, foreign policy came in less than 8%, compared to 39% for the economy. In Michigan, foreign policy came in around the same percentage, while 41% of voters said the economy was most important to them.

In exit polling by a consortium of news organizations, including NBC, CBS, ABC, and CNN, foreign policy came in at 4% nationally, far behind the economy at 27% and 35% who said the state of democracy was their most important issue.

What did these exit polls say about Israel? It's not a crystal clear picture.

In Michigan, 30% of voters polled said U.S. support for Israel is "too strong" (62% of Harris voters said so, as did 36% of Trump voters). Some 26% said U.S. support wasn't "strong enough" and 37% said it was "just right." This basically reflects the national polling on the Israel question.


Story is developing.


Dear RS readers: It has been an extraordinary year and our editing team has been working overtime to make sure that we are covering the current conflicts with quality, fresh analysis that doesn’t cleave to the mainstream orthodoxy or take official Washington and the commentariat at face value. Our staff reporters, experts, and outside writers offer top-notch, independent work, daily. Please consider making a tax-exempt, year-end contribution to Responsible Statecraftso that we can continue this quality coverage — which you will find nowhere else — into 2026. Happy Holidays!

Top photo credit: Arab Americans gather at a restaurant for a presidential election watch party In Dearborn, Michigan, U.S. November 5, 2024. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook
google cta
Reporting | QiOSK
Von Der Leyen Zelensky
Top image credit: paparazzza / Shutterstock.com
The collapse of Europe's Ukraine policy has sparked a blame game

They are calling fast-track Ukraine EU bid 'nonsense.' So why dangle it?

Europe

Trying to accelerate Ukraine’s entry into the European Union makes sense as part of the U.S.-sponsored efforts to end the war with Russia. But there are two big obstacles to this happening by 2027: Ukraine isn’t ready, and Europe can’t afford it.

As part of ongoing talks to end the war in Ukraine, the Trump administration had advanced the idea that Ukraine be admitted into the European Union by 2027. On the surface, this appears a practical compromise, given Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s concession that Ukraine will drop its aspiration to join NATO.

keep readingShow less
World War II Normandy
Top photo credit: American soldiers march a group of German prisoners along a beachhead in Northern France after which they will be sent to England. June 6, 1944. (U.S. Army Signal Corps Photographic Files/public domain)

Marines know we don't kill unarmed survivors for a reason

Military Industrial Complex

As the Trump Administration continues to kill so-called Venezuelan "narco terrorists" through "non-international armed conflict" (whatever that means), it is clear it is doing so without Congressional authorization and in defiance of international law.

Perhaps worse, through these actions, the administration is demonstrating wanton disregard for centuries of Western battlefield precedent, customs, and traditions that righteously seek to preserve as many lives during war as possible.

keep readingShow less
Amanda Sloat
Top photo credit: Amanda Sloat, with Department of State, in 2015. (VOA photo/Wikimedia Commons)

Pranked Biden official exposes lie that Ukraine war was inevitable

Europe

When it comes to the Ukraine war, there have long been two realities. One is propagated by former Biden administration officials in speeches and media interviews, in which Russian President Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion had nothing to do with NATO’s U.S.-led expansion into the now shattered country, there was nothing that could have been done to prevent what was an inevitable imperialist land-grab, and that negotiations once the war started to try to end the killing were not only impossible, but morally wrong.

Then there is the other, polar opposite reality that occasionally slips through when officials think few people are listening, and which was recently summed up by former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Europe at the National Security Council Amanda Sloat, in an interview with Russian pranksters whom she believed were aides to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

keep readingShow less
google cta
Want more of our stories on Google?
Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

LATEST

QIOSK

Newsletter

Subscribe now to our weekly round-up and don't miss a beat with your favorite RS contributors and reporters, as well as staff analysis, opinion, and news promoting a positive, non-partisan vision of U.S. foreign policy.