President Biden faces a tough decision on how to deal with the anger and unrest over his response to the war in Gaza after voters in Michigan sent him a clear message of discontent in the Democratic primary.
The president’s strategy has been focused on supporting Israel while also pushing for a temporary cease-fire and looking to provide more humanitarian aid for civilians. But some voters in the U.S. have made clear that’s not enough and want the president to pivot to backing a permanent cease-fire before November.
More than 100,000 voters cast a ballot for “uncommitted” in Michigan’s Democratic primary as part of a concerted effort by activists to send Biden a message of discontent with his base. While the president earned more than 80 percent of the total vote, the sheer volume of uncommitted votes could prove problematic in a general election if those voters back another candidate or decide to stay home; Biden carried Michigan in the 2020 general election by about 155,000 votes.
A Biden campaign official acknowledged the numbers, saying they are going to work hard to earn every vote and that the president is working tirelessly for peace in Gaza. Both Biden and Vice President Harris, in their respective statements on the Michigan results, didn’t mention the protest votes.
“We understand that this is a painful situation for a lot of people. People have every right to make sure their voices are heard in this moment,” Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler said on a call with reporters. “The president shares the goals of many of the folks who were involved in the uncommitted movement, which is an end to the violence and a just and lasting peace.”
Tyler said the campaign will continue to work to earn the votes of “every single American” and to remind those skeptical of Biden of the “extremism, the xenophobia, the incompetence, the racism, the damage and the harm that we saw under Donald Trump.”
White House and Biden campaign officials have for weeks insisted they understand the passion of protesters and those outraged over the president’s handling of the situation in Gaza.
Both the campaign and the White House dispatched officials to Michigan in the weeks leading up to the primary to meet with Arab American community leaders, discuss their concerns and outline the administration’s actions. Biden himself did not meet with Arab American officials during his own trip to the Detroit area earlier this month.
The White House said officials will continue to hear from Arab and Muslim Americans in the weeks to come, as well as push for a temporary cease-fire with the goal to release the hostages being held by Hamas and to get aid into Gaza.
“He understands how painful this moment is to many people. He gets that,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday. “This is why he is continuing to work on securing a hostage deal. … And if we do that, which is going to be accompanied by a temporary cease-fire, that is going to be important.”
But pressure is growing on Biden from advocates to go further than that strategy.
Our Revolution, a progressive political organizing group that reached out to Michiganders to encourage them to pick the uncommitted option, said voters have sent a “resounding message” to Biden to “change course.”
“Enough is enough. As tonight’s results in Michigan make plainly clear, in order for Democrats to defeat Donald Trump in November, Biden must realign with his voter base and listen to the diverse, progressive voices urging him to change course in Gaza,” executive director Joseph Geevarghese said Wednesday.
Michigan is a vital swing state and has a Senate race on the ballot as well in November. Biden has made concerted outreach to Black voters and union voters in the state, but Michigan also has a high concentration of Arab American votes.
Polling averages from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ show Trump leading Biden in the state by nearly 4 percentage points.
After the primary results, the campaign pointed out that the uncommitted movement in Michigan has been strong in the past, for various reasons against Democrats. The last time an incumbent Democratic president ran in a Michigan primary, which was former President Obama in 2012, the “uncommitted” movement got more than 10 percent of all votes cast.
Meanwhile, pressure is growing beyond Michigan for Biden to call a cease-fire. Other states with large Arab and Muslim American populations will head to the ballot box for their primaries, including Minnesota on Super Tuesday next week, Illinois on March 19 and Pennsylvania on April 23.
The “Abandon Biden” organization, which sees no way Biden can fix the situation and gain back its support, has launched its movement in Pennsylvania and Chicago and has a presence in Minnesota as well.
Advocates were outraged by the U.S. veto last week at the United Nations against a resolution calling on Israel to implement a cease-fire. The U.S. was the only permanent member of the Security Council to use its veto power to kill the resolution, which was proposed by Algeria.
The Biden administration introduced a different resolution at the U.N., an alternative text that calls for a temporary cease-fire and the release of more than 100 Israeli hostages held by Hamas. After months of negotiations over a hostage deal, Biden this week said a cease-fire could start before next week.
Some Biden allies and Democrats were less concerned about Tuesday’s results.
Multiple Democrats pointed to Biden’s overall strength in the Democratic primary so far, including a win in South Carolina with 96 percent of the vote and winning 64 percent of the vote in New Hampshire when the president was not on the ballot.
Jim Kessler, vice president of policy at the left-leaning think tank Third Way, argued the uncommitted option in Michigan amounted to a “free vote” to register discontent with Biden with minimal consequences before November.
“I think he needs to pay attention to that, but there’s 100,000 people who didn’t vote for him yesterday in Michigan, and there’s 300,000 people who didn’t vote for Trump on the Republican side,” Kessler said.