President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump won Michigan Republican Primary Election on Tuesday, cementing an all-but-certain rematch between the two men — yet the state’s primary results are their biggest political showdown before the November general election.
A fierce “irresponsible” campaign organized by activists frustrated by Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza was advancing. It already surpassed the 10,000-vote margin by which Trump won Michigan in 2016, set by organizers of that year’s protest effort.
As for Trump, he has now won the first five states on the Republican primary calendar. But there were early signs that Trump continues to struggle with some influential voter blocs that have backed former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley in previous contests. Haley’s strongest showings Tuesday night came in college towns like Ann Arbor, home of the University of Michigan, and suburbs around Detroit and Grand Rapids.
For Biden, a significant percentage of “uncommitted” voters could signal weakness with parts of the Democratic base in a state he can hardly afford to lose in November. Meanwhile, Trump has done poorly with suburban voters and those with college degrees, and he faces a faction within his party that believes he has one or more criminal cases against him.
Michigan has the largest population of Arab Americans in the country
More than 310,000 residents are of Middle Eastern or North African descent. About half of the roughly 110,000 residents of the Detroit suburb of Dearborn claim Arab ancestry.
Both the White House and Biden campaign officials have made trips to Michigan in recent weeks to talk to community leaders about the Israel-Hamas war and how Biden approaches the conflict, but have not convinced those leaders.
A strong grassroots effort began just a few weeks ago to encourage voters to choose “non-binding” as a way to register objections to the death toll caused by Israel’s aggression. According to Palestinian health officials, about 30,000 people have died in Gaza, two-thirds of them women and children.
The push is backed by Democratic Rep. Rashida Talib, the first Palestinian-American woman in Congress, and former Rep. Andy Levin.
“Uncommitted” votes were hovering around the 15% mark needed to qualify for statewide delegates. It was too early to say whether the campaign would garner delegates locally.