The Michigan Senate race remains nearly deadlocked, with Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed holding a two-to-three-percentage-point lead in two separate polls released on Sept. 17.
El-Sayed led his Republican opponent, former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, 48% to 45% in a Washington Post-Schar School poll and 48% to 46% in anEmerson College poll.
With the November midterm elections around the corner, the polling suggests the open Senate seat in Michigan (currently held by Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, who didn't seek reelection) is anyone's game. The seat is one of a handful of Senate seats across the country – North Carolina, Texas, Georgia, Maine, Ohio, Alaska, Iowa and New Hampshire being the others – that both parties are vying for as Republicans defend
their narrow majority in Congress' upper chamber.
Polls indicate that Democrats could take control of Congress.
El-Sayed is a public health official from Detroit and a member of the Democratic Party's younger, more progressive slate of candidates this year that took on more established Democrats in the primaries. Critics, including President Donald Trump, have called El-Sayed a "socialist." The candidate has rejected that characterization, saying he is not a democratic socialist, rather describing himself as a capitalist.
Emerson's polling reported a split among college-educated and non-college-educated voters in Michigan, saying voters without a four-year degree preferred the Trump-backed Rogers at 48%, compared to El-Sayed at 45%. Michigan voters with college degrees preferred El-Sayed at 53%, while 42% preferred Rogers.
The Washington Post poll and George Mason University policy and government program asked voters to rate the ideology of both candidates. Forty-eight percent of voters called El-Sayed "too liberal," compared to 43% calling Rogers "too conservative." Both candidates tied at 42% of voters ranking each individual as "just about right."
El-Sayed had a more favorable view from Michigan voters than Rogers, with 49% saying they liked the Democratic candidate and 44% ranking him unfavorable, according to Emerson's data. That compares to 42% of voters who had a favorable opinion of Rogers and 46% viewing him unfavorably.
In both polls, voters disapproved of Trump and expressed economic concerns. In the Post-Schar poll, 41% of Michigan voters approved of Trump while 59% disapproved. The Emerson poll found similar results, with 40% approving and 55% disapproving.
That figure in Michigan was slightly higher than in recent nationwide polls, which have generally placed the president's approval rating in the low-to-mid 30% range. A Marquette University Law School poll on Sept. 15 reported Trump's approval rating at 37%.
Other polls have shown lower approval ratings, including a Reuters/Ipsos poll that put Trump's approval rating at 33% nationwide.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: El-Sayed holds slim lead over Rogers in Michigan Senate race, polls say
