Great Lakes Wire

On the eve of Michigan's presidential primary, a chunk of die-hard Democrat primary voters say they won't support President Joe Biden because of his stance on the Israel-Gaza war.

Nineteen percent of Democrats and Democrat-leaning voters say they are likely to cast a "protest vote" against Biden in the primary over the Israel-Gaza war. 

That number rises to 29 percent among Democrat-leaning voters 18 to 34, and is 24 percent among Democrat-leaning whites earning less than $100,000 per year.

The survey of 600 Michigan likely voters was conducted Feb. 22-25 by North Star Opinion Research, commissioned by the League of American Workers (LAW).

A Feb. 26 Emerson College tracking poll reported that 28% of voters under 30 planned to vote as uncommitted' on Tuesday.

Trump and Biden were tied in the LAW poll, 43-43, with 14 percent undecided. The Emerson College poll had Trump up two points on Biden, 46-44.

Voters surveyed by LAW said the U.S. is on the "wrong track" by a 72-22 margin, and that they disapprove of Biden's job on the economy by a 20 point margin, 54-34. These voters said they were better off economically when Trump was president, by a 49-38 margin.

"Biden must earn our vote"

The younger sister of U.S. Rep Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Layla Elabed, is urging Michigan Democratic voters to "vote uncommitted" on Tuesday with her "Listen to Michigan" campaign. 

"Michigan voters are sending Biden a clear message in the February 27 Democratic primary that he can count us out. We are filling out the UNCOMMITTED bubble because we strongly reject Biden’s funding war and genocide in Gaza," the group says on its web site. "Biden must earn our vote through a dramatic change in policy."

Tlaib represents Dearborn in Congress.

On Feb. 20 New York Times' Op-Ed, Dearborn mayor Abdullah Hammoud accused Biden of "betrayal."

"In the past three federal elections, Arab American voters in Michigan have become a crucial and dependable voting bloc for the Democratic Party, and we were part of the wave that delivered for Joe Biden four years ago," Hammoud wrote. "But this fact seems long forgotten by our candidate as he calls for our votes once more while at the same time selling the very bombs that (Israeli Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu’s military is dropping on our family and friends."

"What compounds the constant fear and mourning is a visceral sense of betrayal," he wrote.

Hammoud, 33, served two terms in the Michigan House of Representatives before winning election as Dearborn mayor in 2022. 

According to the 2020 U.S. Census, there are 310,000 Middle Eastern and North African residents of Michigan, or approximately three percent of its population.