The poll, commissioned by The Jewish Majority, got text message responses from 883 self-identified Michigan Jews between October 25 and November 10.
In it, Democratic Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed underperformed Democratic Governor-elect Jocelyn by 18 percentage points.
Those who voted against El-Sayed mostly named his criticism of Israel and his comments after an attack on a Michigan synagogue as their top reasons for not supporting him.
“Both parties should be looking at the Jewish vote right now and seeing an electorate in flux," said Jonathan Schulman, The Jewish Majority's executive director. "Those are votes that are up for grabs and in this polarized environment in which we are currently operating, both sides should be looking to gain whatever advantage they can and courting the Jewish vote should absolutely be on the table,” Schulman said.
Most surveyed Jews still supported El-Sayed’s campaign.
Ahead of the election, the group Nonnegotiable collected signatures to get El-Sayed to soften his tone toward Israel. But another Jewish-led group, Michigan Jews for Democracy, declared their support for El-Sayed’s campaign with a petition of its own.
In the new survey, around two-thirds of respondents identified as Democratic or Democratic-leaning. Two-thirds also felt a connection to Israel as part of their Jewish identity.
Schulman said, as both Democrats and Republicans become more willing to distance themselves from supporting Israel, many Jews are feeling politically displaced.
“I think that for most Jewish voters, the idea that either party represents them right now is becoming increasingly rare,” Schulman said.
This was a banner year for Democrats as they took back Congress and won several state races across the country. But Schulman views that as an outlier, meaning he believes Jewish voters could tip elections in the future.
