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Washington – Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump are aiming for victories in the Michigan primary today, but Israel's genocide in Gaza could be taking its toll on the US president among voters.
The largest Arab community in this country lives in Michigan, which rejects Biden's continued support for Israel and, according to local media, many would tout the vote in protest as “no commitment.”
Such an effort is supported by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, former Rep. Andy Levin and local leaders from southeastern Michigan, including the city of Dearborn, where nearly 55 percent of residents are of Middle Eastern or North African descent, according to census statistics.
Michigan marks the last major stop on the election calendar before Super Tuesday on March 5th.
According to press reports, elections will be held in more than a dozen states that day with thousands of delegates at stake.
Some observers believe the Democratic and Republican primaries in Michigan will be a gauge of the political pulse ahead of the November election.
Michigan was key to Trump's victory in 2016, when he won 16 delegates there by a narrow margin of more than 10,000 votes, but four years later Biden won the state back for Democrats.
Trump won a convincing victory on February 24 in the state of his only consistent rival: Nikki Haley, whose defeat was doubly embarrassing because she was born there and was governor between 2011 and 2017.
Haley continues to bet on the independent vote and is confident Michigan could surprise her.
But at the rate the former president is going despite his problems with the law, he will be Biden's opponent in a few months.
Never before had a candidate achieved such a clear victory at the start of the primaries.
Haley, however, ruled out giving up the nomination race and at least insisted she would stay in the fight until Super Tuesday.
Voters from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Texas, among others, will go to the polls that day.
On Super Tuesday, around 874 delegates will be selected for the Republican National Convention, which will be held in July in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, one of the key states this year.