A majority of Muslim voters supported Green Party candidate Jill Stein in the presidential race, and more voted for Republican Donald Trump than Democrat Kamala Harris, exit poll data shows.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest U.S. Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, on Friday released what it said is the first set of results from its 2024 exit poll, which was conducted by Molitico Consulting LLC and surveyed 1,575 registered American Muslim voters via text message.
Ms. Stein received 53% support from voters surveyed — 14% said they didn’t vote — followed by Mr. Trump with 21% and Ms. Harris with 20%.
One-third of those surveyed, 502 respondents, were Michigan Muslim voters, who had even less enthusiasm for Ms. Harris than the full national results showed.
Of the Michigan Muslims surveyed who voted — 7% didn’t — 59% went for Ms. Stein, 22% for Mr. Trump and 14% for Ms. Harris.
Such voting helped Mr. Trump win in a landslide.
“Our final exit poll of American Muslim voters confirms that opposition to the Biden administration’s support for the war on Gaza played a crucial role, leading to a sharp drop in support for Vice President Harris compared to the support President Biden received from Muslim voters in 2020, and a sharp rise in support for third party candidate Jill Stein,” Robert McCaw, director of CAIR’s Government Affairs Department, said in a statement. “President-elect Trump also managed to make inroads with Muslim voters.”
The exit poll data shows a stark contrast from CAIR’s final preelection poll, which showed Ms. Harris with 41% support, just a single point behind Ms. Stein at 42%. Both were far ahead of Mr. Trump, who had 10% support in the preelection poll.
The CAIR exit poll also shows vastly different results on Muslim voters’ preferences than a Fox News survey conducted in partnership with The Associated Press.
That survey of registered voters from all 50 states, conducted from Oct. 28 to Nov. 5, found that 1% of the 119,588 respondents identified as Muslim. Of those Muslim voters, 63% said they supported Ms. Harris, 32% were for Mr. Trump and 4% were for other candidates, which would include Ms. Stein.
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.
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