Liberal activists took a victory lap Wednesday, a day after more than 100,000 voters cast their support for “uncommitted” in the Michigan primary to protest President Biden’s handling of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
For Mr. Biden, the pushback from the Arab American community marked the first bit of turbulence in the party’s nomination race and underscored the challenges he faces as he looks to cobble together a winning coalition this fall.
“Last night, progressive voters across the state of Michigan made their voices heard,” Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution, said in a statement. “By showing up and voting UNCOMMITTED in the Democratic primary, they sent a resounding message to President Biden: Change course now on Gaza or risk alienating key voter blocs needed to defeat Trump in November.”
He added, “We’ve all watched as nearly 30,000 Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza. Despite unprecedented global outrage and poll after poll showing that Democratic voters overwhelmingly support a cease-fire, the Biden administration continues to provide unconditional support to Israel’s right-wing government to enable its brutal military campaign.”
Our Revolution, an offshoot of Sen. Bernard Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, pointed out that Donald Trump’s margin of victory in Michigan over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 race boiled down to just over 10,000 votes.
Mr. Biden, meanwhile, carried the state by over 154,000 votes in 2020.
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An Emerson College Polling/The Hill survey released this week showed Mr. Trump with a 46% to 44% lead over Mr. Biden, within the poll’s margin of error.
Ten percent remained undecided.
Perhaps more glaring for Mr. Biden was the fact that 28% of voters under age 30 planned to vote “uncommitted” in the Michigan primary.
Mr. Biden still carried 81% of the Michigan Democratic primary vote, while 13% went with “uncommitted.”
Marianne Williamson received 3% of the vote, and Rep. Dean Phillips, Minnesota Democrat, collected 2.7%.
Ms. Williamson put her bid on ice weeks ago, but announced after the Michigan primary she was “unsuspending” her campaign.
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The uncommitted issue isn’t new. Former President Barack Obama had a similar experience in the 2012 Michigan primary after more than 10% of the Democratic vote went for “uncommitted.”
Mr. Obama still won the state by almost 10 points over Republican Mitt Romney in the general election.