Abdul El-Sayed's Supporters Are Elites Too

Here's yet another data point working against the notion that far-left, democratic socialism–friendly candidates are successfully courting the working class: Abdul El-Sayed, the most progressive candidate in the Democratic Senate primary for Michigan, is doing better with college-educated voters than non-college-educated voters.

This information comes courtesy of Detroit News polling, which puts El-Sayed at +7 with college-educated Michiganders who are likely to participate in the upcoming Democratic primary. His primary opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens (D–Mich.), is up 22 points with likely non-college-educated voters. Moreover, El-Sayed is winning white voters, whereas Stevens—despite being white herself—trails with white voters but is absolutely dominant among black voters: She is +46 in that category.

Detroit News/Glengariff poll | 7/8-7/11 LV

US Senate Michigan Democratic primary 2026 (crosstabs, net)

🟪College: El-Sayed +7
🟩No College: Stevens +22
🟪White: El-Sayed +12
🟩Black: Stevens +46
🟩Already voted: Stevens +9
🟪Election day voters: El-Sayed +18
🟩Still holding on… https://t.co/XS4ZWlvAll pic.twitter.com/UG8kVjcwFm

— Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 (@PollTracker2024) July 14, 2026

What this means is that Michigan is experiencing the same dynamic as Maine, where ex-candidate Graham Platner had insisted that he was assembling a working class coalition in support of stridently progressive economic policy—even though his general election opponent, incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins, was polling better with actual working class voters.

How one defines the working class is somewhat up for debate, of course. Yet the ascendant socialist left fervently believes that theirs is a politics that speaks to the concerns, not of Democratic elites or the party establishment, but of rank-and-file voters who are struggling to get by and see left populism as the answer to their concerns about employment, healthcare, housing, education, and so on.

What polling data seems to reveal, however, is precisely the opposite: It is well-educated—though possibly downwardly mobile—elites who are most drawn to progressivism and democratic socialism. These are 20-somethings with fancy degrees from Columbia University and mountains of student loan debt, not factory workers.