Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan congresswoman, declined to endorse Kamala Harris at a union event in Detroit, where the war on Gaza remains the most pressing issue for the country's biggest group of Arab American voters.

Tlaib, the first Palestinian American woman to serve in Congress, is the only "Squad" member who has not supported the Democratic candidate. The other three members, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, backed Harris in July.

"Don't underestimate the power you all have," Tlaib told a crowd of United Auto Workers supporters, emphasizing that “more than those ads, those lawn signs, those billboards, you all have more power to turn out people that understand we’ve got to fight back against corporate greed in our country.”

Tlaib's decision not to endorse Harris comes as a voter survey published on Friday found that 43% of Muslim American voters backed Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

Following Hillary Clinton's defeat to Donald Trump in 2016, Democrats blamed Stein voters for losing Michigan and Wisconsin to the Republican candidate. Some Democrats fear that the same scenario may occur again next week.

Earlier this year, during the presidential primaries, approximately 100,000 Michigan voters marked their ballots "uncommitted" in protest of the Biden administration's support for "Israel's" aggression in the Gaza Strip, which has killed over 43,000 Palestinians.

Tlaib has criticized the Democratic Party's stance on the escalating and brutal war, saying it was "hard not to feel invisible" when the party failed to include a Palestinian American speaker at its August convention in Chicago.

In an interview for Zeteo, the news company launched by former MSNBC anchor Mehdi Hasan, Tlaib stated that the omission "made it clear with their speakers that they value Israeli children more than Palestinian children."

“Our trauma and pain feel unseen and ignored by both parties,” she added. “One party uses our identity as a slur, and the other refuses to hear from us. Where is the shared humanity? Ignoring us won’t stop the genocide.”

Harris has faced ongoing demonstrations on the campaign trail, with activists demanding that she split with President Joe Biden and endorse a weapons embargo on "Israel". Harris has maintained that the Israeli occupation has "a right to defend itself."

When confronted by a protester in Wisconsin two weeks ago who accused the Israeli occupation of genocide, Harris claimed she wanted a ceasefire and the end of the war.

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Tlaib blasted Republican presidential contender Donald Trump, calling him an "Islamophobe" and "serial-liar who doesn't stand for peace" on X.

Trump is a proud Islamophobe + serial liar who doesn't stand for peace. The reality is that the Biden admin’s unconditional support for genocide is what got us here. This should be a wake-up call for those who continue to support genocide. This election didn't have to be close. https://t.co/xufIYRR8Xn

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) November 1, 2024

In a similar context, less than a week before the US presidential election, US-Israeli settlers have made it clear their preferred candidate is Republican Donald Trump.

Polls indicated that the majority of Israelis—66% according to a survey by Channel 12 News—long for the return of Trump to the White House.

During his previous term, Trump made "Israel" a priority by moving the US embassy to occupied al-Quds, recognizing Israeli "sovereignty" over the occupied Golan Heights, and facilitating the normalization deals between "Israel" and several Arab countries.

Now, many Israelis are hopeful that Trump will continue to provide robust support for Tel Aviv.

Latest polls show Harris, Trump in deadlock, seemingly improbable

The US presidential election campaign enters its final weekend with polls showing Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in a seemingly permanent deadlock and few clues as to which of them will prevail on Tuesday.

At the end of a chaotic week that started with Trump’s racially charged rally in New York and included celebrity endorsements and misogynistic comments, The Guardian’s 10-day polling average showed little change. Voter loyalty to candidates appeared largely unaffected by these events.

Nationally, Harris, the Democratic nominee, holds a narrow one-point lead over her Republican opponent, 48% to 47%, which is nearly unchanged from last week. This lead is within the margin of error for most polls.

Candidates in dead heat

In battleground states, the race is equally tight. Candidates are tied at 48% in Pennsylvania, considered a key swing state due to its 19 electoral votes. Harris leads by a point in Michigan and Wisconsin, while Trump holds a slight edge in the Sunbelt, leading by 1% in North Carolina and 2% in Georgia and Arizona. In Nevada, his average lead in the polls is less than one percentage point.

As of Friday, the latest polling comes amid record early voting, with about 65 million Americans having already cast their ballots across multiple states.

According to The Guardian, predicting future results from early voting is notoriously challenging. However, Politico reported that 58% of early voters in Pennsylvania aged 65 and over were registered Democrats, compared to 35% who were Republicans. Despite the two main parties having roughly equal numbers of registered voters among older adults in the state, about 53% of this demographic voted for Trump in Pennsylvania in 2020, even though he lost to Biden.

Unlike four years ago, Trump is now encouraging his supporters to vote early, stated The Guardian. It said the higher turnout among Democrats could be a positive sign for them in this bellwether state, where analysts believe turnout will be crucial for the outcome, adding that Democratic strategists have claimed a 10%-20% lead in senior voter turnout across the three blue-wall states.