(Updated 1:45 a.m. ET)
Foreign policy was way down on the list of voter's 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 the right race for 270 electoral votes.
As of 1 a.m ET today, Harris was winning Washtenaw County by 67% with 84% of the vote in, but Biden won it by 72% in 2020. Meanwhile, Trump was getting 29% of the vote in Washtenaw, compared to 25% in 2020. In Wayne County, Harris was winning (with less than 50% of the vote coming in) by 66%, which is a few ticks lower than Biden in 2020, and third party candidate Jill Stein was getting nearly 3% of the vote, which was much more of a margin than what she was showing in other Michigan counties. Trump was at just under 30% at 1:40 a.m.
Unofficial results in Dearborn reported overnight show 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.
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.
