Only 57 percent of Rep. Haley Stevens’ (D-MI) supporters say they will back socialist Abdul El-Sayed in November if he wins Michigan’s Democrat Senate primary, according to polling data posted Friday.
One polling account posted the crossover figure Friday, days before Tuesday’s primary. A new Emerson College Polling survey the same week showed El-Sayed up on Stevens, 54 percent to 39 percent. His edge grew to 57-41 with leaners factored in.
The survey found a sharp age split. Younger voters powered El-Sayed’s lead while older voters broke the other way.
“There is a clear age divide in the Democratic Primary: voters under 50 break for El-Sayed by 42 percentage points, 67% to 25%, and that gap tightens among voters in their 50s to a 12-point lead, and voters over 60 flip to Stevens by a 14-point margin, 53% to 39%,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said.
Independents broke for El-Sayed by 27 points. Voters unhappy with the party lined up behind him too. He took 78 percent among Democrats who disapprove of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Her approval had dropped to 62 percent, off 17 points since April.
Establishment Democrats have grown anxious that an El-Sayed nomination hands Republicans the seat. Stevens still leads among black voters, 58 percent to 38 percent, according to the Hill.
A Glengariff Group poll found Republican Mike Rogers up 10 points on El-Sayed, while running even with Stevens. Rogers leads El-Sayed by 28 points among independents. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has run ads calling El-Sayed “too radical for Michigan.” The ads point to his support for Medicare for All and for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The primary caps a bitter proxy fight between the party’s progressive and establishment wings. El-Sayed lost a 2018 governor’s race by more than 20 points but has drawn endorsements from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and the United Auto Workers. A win would make him the first Muslim senator.
On a recent donor call, El-Sayed said a victory would let him “put one ogre on a pike.”
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