United States President Joe Biden won the Democratic primary in Michigan and Donald Trump won the Republican primary. So far the predictable. But the further the count progresses, the clearer it becomes that the resident of the White House has received a strong punitive vote for his pro-Israel policies in the Gaza war. A significant percentage of Democratic ballots checked the “undeclared” box, which equates to a blank vote. The campaign by the Arab American community – large in the state – and progressive groups to warn Biden that the lack of a lasting ceasefire could cost him the White House will bring delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this August.
The first hours of counting suggested that the undeclared option received more support than the nearly 11,000-vote margin by which Trump beat Hillary Clinton in Michigan in 2016, the goal set by vote organizers . There were also more than 20,000 “undeclared” voters in the last three Democratic presidential primaries in the state. With a count of 24%, the rebel vote totaled 33,000 ballots, or 14.6%. Biden won Michigan by 150,000 votes in 2020.
“We put lives above the game. “We put human lives before the president,” congratulated Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Mahmmoud, one of the Democratic politicians who supported the blanket election campaign, during the counting of the results. Dearborn, a city on the outskirts of Detroit where 55% of the population is of North African or Middle Eastern descent, was the birthplace of the campaign designed to show Biden that victory in Michigan is the key to continuing the electoral path he needs in the White House the voices calling for a ceasefire. In Dearborn, the rate of “undeclared” people reached 73%.
Polling stations closed at 8:00 p.m. (2:00 a.m. Spanish peninsular time on Wednesday) after being open for 12 hours. In Dearborn, what was just a trickle of people early in the morning and into the afternoon picked up pace. More than a million people had voted in advance, in a state with ten million inhabitants; In Dearborn, election officials said turnout was higher than expected. “We are running out of voter registration forms,” they announced in district number 2, with an hour and a half left until the end of voting.
“We want to show that we are a voting bloc that you can rely on,” Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud emphasized at one of the polling stations during the day. “It is our parents, our brothers, our families and friends who are being bombed…” “We want to take this opportunity to send a message: if the president does not correct his political course, he risks not only electing Donald Trump “To ruin his presidency, but ultimately American democracy itself,” he continued. “This community feels betrayed. We elected a president who will lead with humanity, decency and empathy, and we got exactly the opposite.”
The American president, who firmly sided with Israel at the start of the Gaza war, has gradually adjusted his position but maintains his opposition to a permanent ceasefire and continues to send weapons to Israel. In recent weeks, he declared that the Israeli government had “gone too far” in its war in Gaza, where nearly 30,000 Palestinians died, sanctioned Jewish settlers who attacked Palestinians in the West Bank and warned of an offensive in Rafah. , the last city in the Gaza Strip to be attacked. This Monday he expressed his hope of being able to conclude a temporary ceasefire within a week, which could serve as a first step towards a permanent ceasefire.
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A gesture that Dearborn voters said would not change their position. “Too little, too late,” said Khalid Turaani of the Michigan Task Force of Palestine and one of the organizers of the “Abandon Biden” movement, which is promoting the defeat of the American president in next November’s elections. Mayor Hammoud was also skeptical: “It's strange that it's time to talk about the ceasefire while eating ice cream.” Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has presented his cabinet with a plan to invade Rafah during Ramadan, the holiest Muslim holiday month, submitted.
Michigan is key to the aspirations of both Democrats and Republicans. Trump won this state in 2016 by just over 10,000 votes. Biden beat him by 150,000 ballots in 2020. The state has a population of 300,000 residents of Arab origin, who voted overwhelmingly for the current president four years ago (64%).
“Four years ago I voted for Biden. “This time I will vote for Trump,” said Emad Said, an unemployed 48-year-old, as he left his polling station in Dearborn. He claimed that his motivation was not just the events in Gaza. “Crime has increased, a lot of money is being sent to Ukraine, and here we are lacking…America first,” he noted, repeating the slogan Trump made famous.
A percentage of more than 10% of the total number of undeclared votes would be a major warning for Biden in a state that not only supported him in 2020 but also has a Democratic majority in its local legislature and state government. The president has received the support of the UAW, the influential auto workers union with major political clout in a state that accounts for 20% of the country's total vehicle production.
“We will continue to highlight the differences between Biden and Trump, and as they become clear, we believe voters who have distanced themselves from Biden will return,” LaShawn English, the union's regional director, told Portal.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, co-chair of Biden's campaign, has warned that a punitive vote against the president in November could lead to a victory for Trump. In statements to television network MSNBC, he also noted that “it will be important for the administration to continue to engage with leaders and individuals in the Palestinian, Muslim, Arab American and Jewish communities.”
On the Republican side, the number of votes Haley receives will be an indication of how much a portion of that electorate has doubts about a second term for Trump, who polls showed had a 57 percentage point lead over his rival. Although the data will be relative: only 30% of Michigan delegates to the Republican convention in Milwaukee are currently awarded. The remaining 70 will have to wait until Saturday, when the party holds its state convention. Or better: Conventions: Internal divisions led to the emergence of two factions that called different meetings in two different cities.
Before the recount began, Haley told CNN that she would continue campaigning: “We've only seen a handful of states vote. “We will fight state by state.”
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