by Jake Smith
The White House and Biden 2024 reelection campaign are concerned that President Joe Biden is hemorrhaging support from voters in Arab and Muslim communities in Michigan amid his support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, Politico reported Tuesday.
Biden has publicly backed Israel’s war effort against Hamas even as many of his supporters and voters demand he call for a ceasefire in favor of protecting the Palestinian population in Gaza. Multiple uncommitted voter campaigns have sprung up against Biden as he continues to lose support from Arab and Muslim communities threatening not to back him in the state’s Tuesday primaries, according to Politico.
Some Muslim communities have rallied for the “Listen to Michigan” cause urging people to vote “uncommitted” in the Tuesday primaries in the hopes Biden will understand their concerns and call for a full-scale ceasefire, according to Politico. More dangerous to the president in Michigan is the “Abandon Biden” campaign calling on voters to ditch the president completely in the 2024 elections.
President Biden said he hopes a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas can take effect by early next week.
Biden commented on the negotiations in New York after taping an appearance on NBC’s “Late Night With Seth Meyers.” pic.twitter.com/lPydb0HDqs
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 27, 2024
Biden is trailing former President Donald Trump in several general election polls in Michigan ahead of the primaries on Tuesday, according to Politico. As of October, only about 17% of Arab Americans nationwide would vote for Biden in the 2024 general elections, compared to 59% in 2020, according to the American Arab Institute.
Though Biden is publicly confident in his chances going into the Tuesday primaries, his reelection campaign and administration are panicking internally.
“They are freaking out about the uncommitted vote,” a Democrat close to Biden told Politico.
Biden has not been to Michigan since Feb. 1 but has done several radio interviews that aired on Monday in a bid to boost turnout support at the voting booths on Tuesday, according to Politico. He has also made several statements in recent weeks indicating that he wants Israel to start curbing its war efforts, notably claiming yesterday during a media appearance with NBC show host Seth Meyers that he hopes for a ceasefire as soon as next week.
“Nothing in politics is a coincidence,” Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna, who has served as a mediator between the Biden campaign and Arab communities, told Politico about Biden’s recent statements. “This is happening because the president is hearing that a large part of his coalition wants this war to end.”
Michigan Democrats were told by the Biden campaign leading up to the primaries to warn voters that “any vote not for Biden is a vote for Donald Trump,” a state elected official told Politico. “I’m not gonna go that hard,” he said, noting that it may come across as insulting to voters given their feelings toward Biden’s support for the Israeli war.
Phone bankers from the Listen to Michigan campaign called roughly 100,000 voters this week and learned that most said they would not participate in the Tuesday primaries, according to Politico. Protest efforts in the state aim for at least 10,000 uncommitted voters, but the number will possibly be higher.
The Michigan primary election polls will close at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
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Jake Smith is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
