Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Poll: Haley Stevens holds seven-point lead over Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan Senate primary

The survey follows a contentious Senate debate in which El-Sayed accused the American Israel Public Affairs Committee of shaping U.S. foreign policy on Israel’s behalf.

Haley Stevens
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.). Credit: Courtesy of Haley Stevens for Senate campaign.

Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) is holding a seven-point lead over Abdul El-Sayed, a former Detroit health official, in the Democratic Michigan Senate primary, according to a Detroit News/WDIV-TV poll released on Wednesday.

The survey of 500 likely Democratic primary voters, conducted July 8-11 by The Glengariff Group, found 48.2% backing Stevens and 41.4% supporting El-Sayed, with 10% undecided. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

Among voters who said they had firmly decided, the race was virtually even: 34.1% said they would definitely vote for Stevens, compared with 33.7% for El-Sayed. Stevens led among less-committed voters, with 14.1% saying they would probably support her, compared with 7.7% for El-Sayed.

The poll follows last week’s head-to-head debate, during which El-Sayed accused the American Israel Public Affairs Committee of exerting outsized influence over U.S. Middle East policy and said the pro-Israel lobbying group was a leading source of outside spending against his campaign. AIPAC has endorsed Stevens.

“I think they’re much more susceptible to being targeted if a public official wants to target them, if a community wants to target them,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer told JNS.
The reversal “sends an unfortunate signal at a time of rising antisemitism and sustained efforts to isolate Israel economically,” Evan R. Bernstein, CEO of B’nai B’rith International, told JNS.
Israel’s foreign minister called it a historic day for ties between the two countries and an important day for the capital.
PM warns enemies ahead of Oct. 27 elections, vows IDF will maintain security control “from the Jordan River to the sea.”