Abdul El-Sayed, Muslim Michigan gubernatorial candidate, raises fist on stage.45% of Michigan Voters Wouldn't Consider a Muslim President
Intra-Party Split Detected
Poll shows about 22% of Democratic voters say they would not consider voting for a Muslim presidential candidate, a notable minority breaking from the party's general embrace of religious inclusivity, drawing attention alongside softer-than-expected Democratic support for El-Sayed among core constituencies.
Left says
- •CNN host Dana Bash's blunt reaction—calling the sentiment 'just gross'—reflects a broader discomfort with religious bias shaping presidential viability, especially against the backdrop of a candidate, Abdul El-Sayed, actively running for Senate.
- •Commentary drew a direct parallel to Barack Obama's 2008 campaign, when many voters wrongly believed he was Muslim and used that as a reason for opposition, suggesting this bias has deep, recurring roots in American politics.
- •The poll numbers show real electoral consequence: El-Sayed's support trails behind other Democrats on the same ballot, like gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson, indicating his religion may be costing him votes beyond normal partisan patterns.
- •Even a meaningful share of Democratic voters (22%) expressing reluctance to back a Muslim candidate shows this bias isn't confined to one political side, which is treated as troubling rather than something to excuse.
Right says
- •The poll data is presented factually, showing atheists actually face slightly more rejection (46%) than Muslims (45%), which complicates any narrative that Muslim candidates are uniquely targeted.
- •The heavy partisan skew—78% of Republicans versus 22% of Democrats saying they wouldn't support a Muslim president—is treated as important context that shows this isn't simply an American consensus but a starkly partisan divide.
- •El-Sayed's own associations, including ties to controversial commentator Hasan Piker who said America 'deserved' 9/11, are raised as a legitimate factor voters may weigh separately from religious bias.
- •The tight Senate race itself—El-Sayed leading Rogers 48% to 45%, within the margin of error—is emphasized as the more electorally significant data point alongside the religious-tolerance numbers.
Common Take
High Consensus- The Washington Post-Schar School poll surveyed 803 likely Michigan voters between September 10-14 with a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.
- Atheists faced slightly more voter rejection (46%) than Muslim candidates (45%), while Christians faced the least (7%) and Jewish candidates fell in between (20%).
- The Senate race between Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers is a statistical dead heat, with El-Sayed at 48% and Rogers at 45%.
- Both sides reference CNN host Dana Bash's on-air reaction calling the polling result 'just gross' as a notable moment in the story's coverage.
The Arguments
Left argues
A poll showing 45% of voters would categorically reject a presidential candidate solely for their religion reflects a troubling bias that echoes the false 'Obama is Muslim' smear used against him in 2008, revealing deep and recurring religious prejudice in American politics.
Right counters
The same poll shows atheists are rejected at an even higher rate (46%) than Muslims, undermining the narrative that Muslims are being uniquely singled out rather than experiencing a broader pattern of skepticism toward candidates outside mainstream religious identity.
Right argues
The 78%-to-22% partisan gap between Republicans and Democrats on this question shows the sentiment is not a uniform 'American' problem but a starkly partisan one, and framing it as a broad societal failing obscures that important context.
Left counters
Even a 22% rejection rate among Democrats — El-Sayed's own party — shows the bias isn't confined to Republicans and is significant enough to shape a competitive race, which is precisely why it deserves scrutiny rather than dismissal as merely 'partisan.'
Right argues
El-Sayed's documented associations with figures like Hasan Piker, who said America 'deserved' 9/11, are a legitimate, non-bigoted basis for voter skepticism that voters and press should be allowed to weigh separately from his religion.
Left counters
Conflating a candidate's associations with his religious identity is exactly the kind of guilt-by-association tactic that fuels the underlying bias the poll reveals, and it risks being used as a pretext to justify what is, for many respondents, a straightforward religious disqualification.
Right argues
The more electorally decisive number is that El-Sayed leads Rogers only 48%-45%, within the margin of error, meaning the race is genuinely competitive and the horse-race dynamics matter more than a hypothetical presidential question.
Left counters
The tight race actually reinforces the concern: El-Sayed trails fellow Democrat Jocelyn Benson by five points on the same ballot, suggesting the religious bias measured in the poll is plausibly costing him real votes beyond normal partisan variation.
Left argues
Dana Bash's visceral, unscripted reaction ('it's just gross') captures a legitimate moral discomfort that mainstream commentators should be willing to voice plainly when confronted with data showing widespread willingness to disqualify a candidate based on faith alone.
Right counters
A visibly shocked, moralizing reaction from a news anchor risks editorializing rather than reporting, especially when the same segment includes context — like the higher rejection rate for atheists and the tight partisan split — that complicates the simple 'bigotry' framing she reacted to.
Challenge Questions
These questions target genuine internal contradictions — meant to provoke honest reflection.
Right asks Left
“If the same poll shows atheists face slightly higher rejection than Muslims, why does the left's commentary focus almost exclusively on anti-Muslim bias rather than treating this as a broader story about voters' discomfort with any non-mainstream religious identity?”
Left asks Right
“If associations like El-Sayed's ties to Hasan Piker are meant to be considered separately from his religion, why are they frequently raised in the same breath as his faith and his status as a Muslim candidate, rather than being evaluated as a standalone character issue applied consistently to candidates of all religions?”
Outlier Report
Left Fringe
Commentators like Dana Bash and Nia-Malika Henderson framing this as straightforwardly bigoted represent a mainstream-left reaction (~70% of left-leaning commentary), but more strident voices equating this directly with racism against Obama or dismissing any legitimate policy-based skepticism of El-Sayed represent perhaps 15-20% of left discourse.
Right Fringe
Figures amplifying El-Sayed's association with Hasan Piker's 9/11 comments as disqualifying, or outlets like Breitbart/Blaze framing the poll mainly as evidence of Democratic hypocrisy rather than engaging with the religious tolerance question, represent a vocal ~25-30% of right-leaning commentary; more extreme voices explicitly justifying anti-Muslim sentiment as reasonable are a smaller fringe (~10%).
Noise Assessment
Moderate-to-high; cable news reaction clips (Bash's 'gross' comment) get outsized social media amplification relative to how much this poll actually shifts persuadable voters, and the story is being used by both sides more as a proxy for broader culture-war narratives than as a genuine referendum on religious tolerance.
Sources (6)
<img src="https://www.theblaze.com/media-library/video-cnn-host-shocked-by-poll-showing-how-michigan-voters-really-feel-about-muslims.png?id=67789100&width=1245&height=700&coordinates=0%2C0%2C1%2C0" /><br /><br /><p>Michigan voters are making it clear that there are certain sets of beliefs that don't mesh with their own.</p><p>This much was revealed in a recent CNN segment, where a panel was discussing the red-hot Senate race in Michigan between Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed.</p><p class="pull-quote">'It's just gross.'</p><p>When it came time to bring up a poll of Michigan voters' sentiments, the results were so shocking to host Dana Bash that she could barely string a sentence together.</p><p>A new Washington Post-Schar School poll conducted September 10-14 asked 803 likely Michigan voters who they would <em>not </em>consider voting for as a presidential candidate.</p><p>A whopping 45% of voters <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/tablet/2026/09/17/sept-10-14-2026-washington-post-schar-school-michigan-poll/" target="_blank">said</a> they would <em>not </em>consider voting a Muslim for president.</p><p>This left Bash mostly <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/17/politics/video/inside-politics-michigan-poll-muslim-president-el-sayed-rogers" target="_blank">speechless</a>: "45%?!" was all she could verbalize to her panel.</p><p>After one panel member compared not wanting to vote for a Muslim to not wanting to vote for a black person, Bash replied, "First of all, it's just gross," regarding the poll.</p><p>The host was then mostly at a loss for words while seemingly looking to avoid saying anything that could be perceived as bigoted. However, another panelist pointed out that the 45% number reflected only those who were willing to be honest with a pollster. Therefore, he theorized, the number could be higher.</p><p><strong>RELATED: <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/news/not-someone-who-can-be-trusted-anti-trump-detroit-newspaper-rips-el-sayed-in-rogers-endorsement" target="_blank">‘Not someone who can be trusted’: Anti-Trump Detroit newspaper rips El-Sayed in Rogers endorsement</a></strong></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube"> <span class="rm-shortcode" style="display: block; padding-top: 56.25%;"></span> </p><p>The only group that Michigan voters were less likely to consider for president were atheists, whom 46% said they would not vote for. Jewish candidates were not worthy of a vote for 20% of respondents, while Christians were ruled out by just 7% of those who took the poll.</p><p>When digging into the poll numbers, though, the stats do seem to be a bit more partisan than they initially appear.</p><p>With 78% of Republican voters saying they would not support a Muslim for president, they are certainly swaying the average versus just 22% of Democrat voters who said the same.</p><p>However, more than one in five Democrats saying as much is nothing to sneeze at. </p><p>Inversely, just 74% of Democrat voters said they would support a Muslim for president.</p><p><strong>RELATED: <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/news/islamic-society-illegal-el-sayed" target="_blank">Islamic Society of North America illegally supported Muslim candidate's campaign, congressman says</a></strong></p> <p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image"> <img alt="" class="rm-shortcode" id="44550" src="https://www.theblaze.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=67789024&width=1245&height=700&quality=50&coordinates=0%2C35%2C0%2C72" /> <small class="image-media media-photo-credit">Joshua Lott/Getty Images</small></p> <p>Citing the same poll, El-Sayed is sitting at 48% support for the Senate seat, while Rogers is at 45% with the margin of error set at +/- 3.9%.</p><p>At the same time, 53% of respondents said they preferred Democrats to control the U.S. Senate, while 45% said Republicans.</p><p>This certainly points to the idea that while those polled are nearly split on their support of Democrats and Republicans, they are far more aligned in the fact that they are more willing to vote for Christians or Jews than for atheists and Muslims.</p><p><em>Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. </em><em><a href="https://www.theblaze.com/newsletters/theblaze-articlelink" target="_self">Sign up here</a></em><em>!</em></p>
<p>Thursday on CNN’s “Inside Politics,” anchor Dana Bash said a poll from Michigan that found 45% of the electorate would not vote for a Muslim candidate was “just gross.” Bash said, “There’s a brand new poll out from The Washington</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2026/09/17/cnns-bash-just-gross-45-of-mi-electorate-wont-vote-for-a-muslim/" rel="nofollow">CNN’s Bash: ‘Just Gross’ 45% of MI Electorate Won’t Vote for a Muslim</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.breitbart.com" rel="nofollow">Breitbart</a>.</p>
A new poll is testing Michigan voters’ appetite for a potential Muslim presidential candidate as Democrat Abdul El-Sayed mounts his bid to become the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate. About 45% of Michigan likely voters said they would not consider voting for a Muslim candidate for president, according to a new Washington Post ...
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A Post-Schar School finds 53 percent of Michigan’s likely voters say they want Democrats to control the Senate, but 48 percent support Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in the Senate race.