Jill Stein leads Harris, Trump among some Muslim-American swing state voters, report shows

A new report from the Council on American Islamic Relations shows Green Party candidate Jill Stein leading Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump among Muslim voters in some swing states.

With the 2024 election shaping up to be the closest in a generation, vital minority groups like Muslim Americans in swing states could be the key to winning or losing the White House.

The report released on Sep. 9 showed Stein leading Harris and Trump among Muslim voters in the key states of Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin. In Arizona, Stein had 35% of Muslim voters while 40% of respondents in Michigan and 44% in Wisconsin signaled their support of the Green Party candidate.

Stein’s large support in Michigan could prove to be a headache to the Harris campaign as she tries to rebuild the coalition President Joe Biden had in 2020. The state is the home to Dearborn, the city in the United States with the highest per capita population of Muslim-Americans in the country.

Stein was among the featured guests at this year's ArabCon, organized by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, which is typically held in Washington, D.C., but was moved to Dearborn this year.

The report also shows Harris and Trump leading among Muslim voters in other swing states, with Harris getting support from 43% of respondents in Georgia and 37% in Pennsylvania.

Trump on the other hand leads among Muslim voters in one state, Nevada, where 27% of those polled showed support for the former president.

“These new survey findings make it clear that American Muslim voters have the potential to determine the outcomes in several key battleground states and that they are still up for grabs in the 2024 election,” said CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert S. McCaw in a statement.

Many Muslim voters feel disenfranchised by Democrats

Many Muslim voters have felt ignored by the Democratic party, particularly over the issue of U.S. support for Israel's response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

At this year's Democratic National Convention in Chicago, a group of uncommitted delegates held a sit-in outside the convention hall, protesting the refusal of the Harris campaign to allow a Palestinian speaker at the convention.

The uncommitted movement also made news in the primaries, when President Biden was still the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, and more than 100,000 uncommitted ballots were cast in protest during the Michigan Democratic Primary.

In 2020, Biden carried Michigan by only 154,000 votes and recent polls show Harris holding a narrow lead over Trump in the state.

​​Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jill Stein leads Harris, Trump among some Muslim-American swing state voters, report shows