In Michigan, some voters ‘uncommitted’ to Biden; Trump seen beating Haley

DEARBORN: President Joe Biden’s support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza is being put to a test on Tuesday in Michigan, home to a large Arab American constituency where Democratic voters have been urged to mark their primary ballots as “uncommitted” in protest.

Biden and Republican former President Donald Trump are expected to easily win their party’s primaries in the state on Tuesday. But the vote count for both is being closely watched for signs the candidates face wavering support within their own parties.

Voters trickled into a polling site Tuesday morning at an elementary school in Dearborn, a liberal city that is the epicenter of the pushback against Biden’s Israel strategy. Of the seven voters Reuters interviewed before 11 a.m. (1600 GMT), six said they were voting “uncommitted” and one said he was voting for Trump.

Many in Michigan’s large Arab American community who supported Biden in 2020 are now outraged, along with some progressive Democrats, over what they assert is Biden’s unwavering support for Israel’s Gaza offensive, in which tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed.

“America’s blind support of Israel is just unacceptable. I just worry that Biden doesn’t get it,” said one uncommitted Dearborn voter, Sajjad, a 42-year-old doctor who didn’t want to give his full name.

Biden, a Democrat, and Trump both want strong showings in Michigan, a battleground state expected to play a decisive role in the head-to-head US presidential election on Nov. 5. Biden beat Trump in Michigan by 2.8 percentage points in the 2020 election.

Late on Monday, Biden said Israel had agreed to halt military activities in Gaza for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan expected to begin on the evening of March 10, as Hamas studied a draft for a truce that includes a prisoner-hostage exchange.

It should have happened sooner, said Michael Bristol, 21, a student at Wayne State University who also said in Dearborn he cast an “uncommitted” vote.

“I know and understand Biden can’t snap his fingers and make this OK, but a stronger message of ceasefire would have worked,” he said.

Engage Action and Listen to Michigan say they’re aiming for 10% of Michigan’s Democratic primary voters to choose “uncommitted,” a symbolically significant 10,000 votes – about equal to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 loss to Trump in Michigan.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, and some others in the party have warned that if Democrats failed to support Biden, they could hand the swing state and the country to Trump in November.