Biden's Michigan primary win soured by tens of thousands of 'uncommitted' votes in protest over Gaza war
Joe Biden
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday (Feb 27)managed to easily win the Democraticpresidential primary in Michigan but it was marred by a protest vote by a section of angry Democrat voters against his stance on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
The swing state of Michigan, home to a large Arab American population, saw the Democratic voters mark their primary ballots as "uncommitted", to protest Biden'ssupport for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
According to the Michigan Department of State, selecting ‘uncommitted’ implies that the voter is exercising a party vote, but not committed to the candidates on the ballot. Nearly 60,000 uncommitted votes were counted.
Watch |US: Joe Biden faces protest over Gaza during Michigan primary
Since the war broke out in October 2023, Biden has supported Israel's call to attack the Gaza Strip to neutralise the militant group Hamas, even though it comes at the cost of the lives of thousands of innocent Palestinians.
Although multiple US media projections showed that Biden won nearly 80 per cent of the total vote, the number of Democrats voting "uncommitted" exceeded the expectations of the Biden camp. As of the last update, more than 58,000 'uncommitted' votes had been registered against the expected 10,000 mark.
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Activists belonging to a group named "Listen to Michigan" that batted for people to vote uncommittedhailed the support they received. Some of the people could be seen in tears during the organisation's watch party as tallies were periodically updated.
"Our movement emerged victorious tonight and massively surpassed our expectations. Tens of thousands of Michigan Democrats, many of whom who voted for Biden in 2020, are uncommitted to his re-election due to the war in Gaza," the Listen to Michigan campaign said in a statement.
Biden's dwindling appeal
The discontent against Biden has been brewing for some time now. On Monday (Feb 26),a poll survey data released byRasmussen Reports showedthat about 48 per cent of Democrats approve of the party“finding another candidate to replace Joe Biden before the election in November", compared to 38 per cent who disapprove.
The poll conducted on 960 voters found little consensus on who should replace Biden on the ballot but former first lady Michelle Obama, 60, led with 20 per cent of respondents voting for her.
She emerged as the leading candidate amongst the likes of Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, “none of the above” and “not sure”.
(With inputs from agencies)