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Kamala Harris is torn between Michigan’s Jewish and Arab voters

There's no obvious path to shoring up the swing state. Credit: Getty

October 22, 2024 - 7:00pm

Future Coalition PAC, a Republican-led super PAC funded in part by Elon Musk, has been running conflicting adverts targeting Arab and Jewish voters.

In Pennsylvania, the PAC published an ad portraying Kamala Harris as unsupportive of Israel and sympathetic to anti-Israel protesters, saying: “Jewish voters must say, ‘No more.’” But in Michigan, the Future Coalition PAC ran an ad with the opposite message in an apparent effort to dissuade Arab-Americans from supporting the Vice President. “Harris has made herself clear. She stands with Israel and the Jewish people […] Supporters of Free Palestine, they hate her,” it read.

The adverts exploit a tension over Israel within the Democratic Party that could prove pivotal in a particularly key swing state next month. The sizeable Arab population of Michigan has been front of mind for Democrats as the party’s pro-Israel stance brushes up against a voting demographic that favours the Palestinian cause. But the state also has a significant Jewish population, approximately half the size of the Arab cohort, at around 105,000 residents.

Jewish Americans tend to vote Democrat — in Michigan, they’re about twice as likely to identify as Democrats than as Republicans. But in the wake of the 7 October attacks last year, and an increasingly vocal anti-Israel push from progressives, the loyalty of Jewish voters to the Democratic Party may be on the decline.

Harris officially supports Israel, as she did during her 2019 bid for the presidency. However, her critiques of the country’s military actions over the past year place her at odds with Israel’s most fervent supporters. Last year the Vice President said: “Israel has a right to defend itself, and we will remain steadfast in that conviction.” Harris added, however, that the country “must do more to protect innocent civilians”, and that “humanitarian laws must be respected” as “the scale of civilian suffering and the images and videos coming out of Gaza are devastating.”

In her 60 Minutes interview earlier this month, she declined to directly answer a question about whether the US had a close ally in Netanyahu, instead stating, “I think the better question is: do we have an important alliance between the American people and Israeli people? And the answer is yes.”

Her blended approach to Israel is likely to push some Jewish voters away, though the extent of this demographic’s frustration with Democrats has not been tested electorally since 7 October. It’s also likely to upset Arab residents, of whom there are more than 200,000 in Michigan.

The Uncommitted Voter movement urged concerned citizens in Michigan not to vote for Joe Biden in the Democratic primary as a largely symbolic protest against US support for the war in Gaza. The group recently came out against Donald Trump and discouraged voting for third-party candidates, but has not endorsed Harris.

As the war in the Middle East escalates amid Iranian attacks on Israel and the Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon, there’s little to suggest Arab voters — a substantial portion of whom are Lebanese — will warm to Harris.

Arab and Jewish residents make up a small portion of the Michigan population, a combined 3.5%, though it must be assumed that some are ineligible to vote due to age or legal status. But the race in Michigan is a dead heat. Biden won the state by 2.8 points in 2020, and in 2016 Trump won by only 0.23% — a difference of about 11,000 votes. If a substantial portion of Michigan’s Arab and Jewish voters either stay home in November or vote for Trump, it could well cost Harris the election.


is UnHerd’s US correspondent.

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Samuel Ross
Samuel Ross
20 days ago

After her many years in office, I’m still not sure what she stands for.

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
20 days ago
Reply to  Samuel Ross

https://kamalaharris.com/
There you go, sport! A little research goes a long way!
Just pop back over here if you need me to explain the big words for you. And try not to be disappointed if there isn’t anything about the size of Arnold Palmer’s johnson in there – you’re with the grown ups now!

Benedict Waterson
Benedict Waterson
20 days ago

Yes, where is the actual substantial content in the link you shared?
Can you explain further
And which of the words included on the site would you say are ‘big words’?
Thanks.

Lesley van Reenen
Lesley van Reenen
20 days ago

And who wrote it. Harris hasn’t a cooking clue what is written there.

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
20 days ago

Which part don’t you understand, fella?

Benedict Waterson
Benedict Waterson
19 days ago

Can you read?
I didn’t say I didn’t understand it.
I said that there was no particularly substantial content there (it’s mainly just advertizing), and asked what you personally found substantial?
Then I asked, in reference to your previous post, what words you consider to be ‘big words’?

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
19 days ago

Are you looking for the section on Hannibal Lecter? Or the content referring to the size of Arnold Palmer’s appendage? Maybe a 40 minute playlist for when you can’t be bothered answering any more questions at a “town hall”?
Sorry, you won’t find those there – but I can certainly direct you to all of that if you can’t follow the stuff about policies?

Benedict Waterson
Benedict Waterson
19 days ago

it just says ‘Everything will be better for everyone if you vote for us, and here are some Democrat donors who agree’

Jonathan Gibbs
Jonathan Gibbs
20 days ago

I’m not sure that KH has the brains to be torn between pink sippy juice and green sippy juice.

Samuel Ross
Samuel Ross
20 days ago
Reply to  Jonathan Gibbs

Be kind, dear friend. Anger and hate are the path to the dark side ….. Tranquility and love will lead you to the light …

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
20 days ago
Reply to  Jonathan Gibbs

And yet she annihilated your orange king in the debate just a few weeks ago!
What does that say about his brains? And yours for that matter!

Samuel Ross
Samuel Ross
20 days ago

Be gentle and kind, my friend. Cruelty, mockery, and arrogance are paths to the dark side ….. Gentleness, honor, and humility are paths to the light ……

Will K
Will K
20 days ago

It’s tough, when one doesn’t have any personal ideas, and have to decide which group of voters to try to please.

D Walsh
D Walsh
20 days ago
Reply to  Will K

Look up the names of the largest donors to the party, its obvious which group she will support, she’s dumb, but not that dumb

Dengie Dave
Dengie Dave
20 days ago

Elon Musk is saying the unsayable out loud. On the one hand Kamala Harris says she supports Israel’s right to self defence; on the other she and Biden have done everything to undermine it to curry favour with the pro-Gaza Islamis voting bloc. When a heckler accused Israel of genocide she said: “I hear you… it’s real.” It played out just the same in the UK election where Labour lost seats to pro-Gaza independents for supposedly being too pro Israel. Now in power, to appease Islamists further David Lammy has placed a virute-gesturing arms embargo on Israel and withdrawn objections to the ICC’s request for warrants for the arrest of Netenyahu. In the US, Michigan is the sixth most populous Muslim state with 249,000. Jews are less than half that and don’t count. Moreover Jews don’t vote as a bloc in either US or UK. In the US since 1968 70-80% have voted Democrats. In the UK Jews are a much smaller propportion of the voting population. Politics in the identitarian age is a numbers game. Truth is no one will win an election by appealing to Jews but they think they can by appealing to Muslim Islamists who hate them.

Richard C
Richard C
20 days ago

Harris deserves to lose both sides as she has no principles.
In war’s you have to take a side, there is no finessing this and her ongoing suggestions about immediate peace settlements only show how completely vapid she is.