Michigan’s ‘uncommitted’ voters send warning sign to President Biden

(RNS) — In Tuesday’s Democratic primary in Michigan, President Joe Biden celebrated a victory, but it was tainted by the choice of 13% of those who voted to declare themselves “uncommitted” to protest the president’s handling of the war in Gaza.

The activist organization Listen to Michigan, which led the campaign to boost the “uncommitted” vote, was hoping 10,000 voters would vote “uncommitted.” Results indicate that some 100,000 Michiganders chose that option.

“This victory isn’t merely statistical,” said the director of Emgage’s Michigan chapter, Hira Khan, in a statement. “It’s a powerful demonstration of our collective will for significant policy changes regarding Gaza, beginning with an urgent call for a mutual ceasefire.”

For weeks, the chapter organized phone banks to encourage voters to vote “uncommitted.” 

Robert S. McCaw, the government affairs director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Tuesday’s results are a warning sign for Biden and signal that his support to Israel might have alienated Muslim voters and might cost him the support of Michigan’s Muslim voters, who Emgage says number 206,050. 

In 2020, Muslim and Arab American voters were among those who showed up to support Biden, who won Michigan with 154,188 votes. In 2016, Donald Trump won the state with a thin margin of 10,000 votes.

According to an exit poll taken on behalf of CAIR of 527 Muslim respondents who participated in the election, 94% voted uncommitted in Tuesday’s primary.

In Dearborn Heights, Hamtramck and Dearborn, which count important Muslim and Arab American populations, voters cast more “uncommitted” ballots than votes for Biden, noted Dawud Walid, the executive director of CAIR’s Michigan chapter.

Walid said the primary results prove that if the president continues on this track, he might lose the vote of the Muslim community in November.

“There are potential electoral consequences for anyone running for president to take our community for granted. Be it in November or future elections,” he said.

In Dearborn, home to the country’s largest Muslim population per capita, 74% voted “uncommitted” and 23% voted for Biden.

“Every person who voted ‘Uncommitted’ today was personally compelled to use their voice to speak out against President Biden’s support of Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people,” tweeted Mayor Abdullah H. Hammoud on Tuesday evening as the first results were announced.

CAIR’s poll also indicated that if the presidential election had happened yesterday, 13% of Muslim voters would have voted for Biden, 13% for Trump and 25% for third-party candidate Cornel West. 

Walid expects the same scenario to unfold on March 12 in Georgia’s Democratic primary, where many Muslim, Arab American and African American voters have already announced they would vote “uncommitted.”

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