Biden wins Michigan primary but sees eroded support over stance on Gaza

U.S. President Joe Biden faced a sizeable protest campaign from Arab-Americans who chose to vote "uncommitted" in the Michigan primary, where Donald Trump also clinched victory.

U.S. President Joe Biden easily won the Democratic presidential primary in Michigan on Tuesday, but the results also pointed to dwindling support from voters in the critical swing state over the Biden administration’s stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict.

A protest campaign led by members of Michigan’s large Arab-American diaspora saw about 15 per cent of voters mark their ballots as “uncommitted” rather than for the incumbent president or his longshot primary challengers. That could pose a problem for Biden in November’s presidential election, where he’s expected to once again face former president Donald Trump.

Trump also decisively won the Republican primary in Michigan on Tuesday, earning roughly 65 per cent of the vote, the Associated Press projected. But he continues to face persistent opposition from his former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, who earned 30 per cent of ballots cast Tuesday and has vowed to stay in the race until at least next month.

Biden won the Democratic primary with nearly 80 per cent of the vote, according to the Associated Press.

The president has faced criticism from Arab-Americans and progressive Democrats for continuing to back Israel as it wages a military offensive in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of civilians and created a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory. The Biden administration has refused growing calls for a ceasefire, saying Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas after the terrorist group’s deadly Oct. 7 assault on Israel, but has been pushing for temporary pauses in the fighting to allow for the entry of humanitarian aid and the release of hostages held by Hamas.

Michigan has the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the U.S. More than 310,000 residents are of Middle Eastern or North African ancestry.

The “uncommitted” effort, which began in earnest just a few weeks ago, has been backed by Democratic officials such as Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian-American woman in Congress, and Abdullah Hammoud, the Muslim mayor of Dearborn, Mich., where more than half the population of 110,000 people claim Arab ancestry.

Abbas Alawieh, spokesperson for the Listen to Michigan campaign pushing voters to select “uncommitted,” told the Associated Press on Tuesday the effort is a “way for us to vote for a ceasefire, a way for us to vote for peace and a way for us to vote against war.”