Wayne County has the largest concentration of Arab Americans nationally, and America’s support for Israel is causing some to abandon Harris. Trump visited Dearborn on Friday with a promise to end the war in Gaza.

Trump got more votes in Dearborn in 2020 than he did in Detroit. Your campaign has been going on for months. warming up to Arab American and Muslim leaders in suburban Detroit.

Imam Mika’il Steward Saadiq is a Muslim leader in Detroit who endorsed Harris after voting uncommitted rather than supporting Biden in the primary. Saadiq said some voters are motivated to punish the Biden-Harris administration after unimaginable bloodshed.

“When people become inconsolable and traumatized by their pain, there is not much they can say,” Saadiq said. “It’s very serious. We know it’s going to be a very close race. “An undesirable outcome cannot be blamed on the Arab American and Muslim community.”

Saadiq said there is a desperate need for a ceasefire, but Trump cannot be trusted to help Muslims.

“I will not be complicit in creating a path for Trump’s victory,” he said. “Most people in the Southeast Michigan Muslim community remember the Trump presidency. “We remember going to airports to protest (Trump’s travel ban on Muslim-majority countries), we remember the children in cages.”

Santiago-Romero said the election reminds him of Trump’s surprising victory in Michigan in 2016. He advocated for Harris to visit southwest Detroit, home to a large number of Hispanic and Latino immigrants. At a rally in October, Santiago-Romero said she heard community members say they won’t vote because Harris’ campaign doesn’t represent their interests.

“It saddens me to say that Democrats don’t seem to listen to us anymore,” he said. “At the end of the day, this is their race to lose.”

Steen, a DPSCD board candidate and Harris supporter, said Gen Z voters have connected to Trump’s media presence on platforms popular with young people, especially men.

“A lot of young people are interested in Trump because of his entertainment factor and are not aware of his policies per se,” Steen said. “It’s on podcasts that get more views than mainstream media.”

Steen said some young voters are first-generation participants, with parents or grandparents who may not have prioritized voting. He remembers visits as a child to the polls with his mother and grandmother followed by a family breakfast.

He said making young people comfortable with the voting process is essential to driving engagement. He hosts “practice at the polls” events through his nonprofit, the Steen Foundation, to familiarize people with filling out ballots and registering to vote.