In three key competitive U.S. states — North Carolina, Minnesota and Michigan — tens of thousands of Americans voted “uncommitted” in primary elections rather than vote for President Joe Biden.
It’s part of a movement spearheaded by Arab Americans in Michigan to protest the president’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza, where the health ministry says at least 30,000 Palestinians have been killed. The weapons used by Israel in Gaza are largely funded by, and made in, the United States.
“The anger that I feel towards him is just, it's, it's immeasurable. It's nothing compared to even the way I felt about Trump,” Samraa Luqman, Michigan co-chair of Abandon Biden, a group that’s working to defeat the president in the November election.
"The betrayal, the assumption that the Democratic Party stood for the moral high ground, for human rights and the protection of minorities, that's all gone.”
More than 100,000 Michiganders, 13% of Democratic voters, voted “uncommitted” in the state’s February 27 primary. Michigan is home to the largest Arab American population in the nation. By voting “uncommitted,” they’re signaling to Biden that he risks losing the Arab American vote in the key battleground state. Biden still has a pathway to victory without Michigan, but it's much harder.
“Most Arab Americans are registered as Democrats, about two to one Democrat to Republican, but how they vote varies depending on the year,” says Amny Shuraydi, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan-Dearborn with an expertise in Arab American studies.
"You have Arab Americans who are very conservative, and you have those who are very liberal, just like any other voter group. But Middle East politics definitely play a role in the majority of Arab American and Muslim voters and how they make their final decisions when it comes to voting.”
Former President Donald Trump won Michigan in 2016 by less than 11,000 votes. Biden won by about 120,000 votes in 2020. There are an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 Arab Americans in the state, although not all are eligible to vote.
“We're focused on the Arab Americans in Michigan because they have almost exactly the number of votes to change the election result,” says Jeffrey Grynaviski, an associate political science professor at Wayne State University in Detroit.
After the Michigan primary, a Biden campaign spokesperson said the president hears the voters participating in the uncommitted campaigns, and that he shares their goal for a just, lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians. In recent weeks, the Biden administration has pushed for a temporary cease-fire and more aid for Gaza. The Biden team has also met with local Arab American leaders.
Michigan has a population of more than 10 million, so the Arab American vote alone could be insignificant to the overall election result, Grynaviski says, but there are other worrying signs for the president.
“It's not just the Arab American population that I would be concerned about if I was a Biden adviser. It would be the young people, because almost overwhelmingly, the young people are disgusted by what they see from my interactions with them,” Grynaviski says. “You look at voter turnout in Ann Arbor, near the University of Michigan, it was high and very noncommitted.”
Yusef Ahmed, a college student who voted “uncommitted” in the primary, says there’s no chance he’ll vote for Biden in November.
“Even if he decides to completely do a 360, he has already caused so much harm,” Ahmed says.
Adam Abusalah says he worked to help elect Biden in 2020, but that there is nothing the president can do to win him back in 2024.
“We thought he was somebody that would lead this country with humanity and compassion. But instead, he's been leading with hypocrisy," Abusalah says. "We're saying, ‘Enough is enough.’ We no longer want our tax dollars going to purchase bombs and give Israel more military aid to bomb Palestinians. We'd rather that money come into our schools."
The potential for political damage could extend beyond the presidential race. Progressive Arab Americans might lean toward Michigan Senate hopeful Justin Amash, a Republican of Palestinian origin, who is facing pro-Israel Democrat Elissa Slotkin in November.
“I can tell you that, even as a progressive myself, that is way on the left of the spectrum, I would vote for Justin Amash over Slotkin,” Luqman says. “And let's see a Republican senator come out of Michigan. The Democratic Party has a lot to lose, a lot more than just the presidency.”
When asked if she thinks likely Republican nominee Trump would be better for Arab Americans and for U.S. policy toward Israel and the Palestinians, Luqman says.
“I've lived through four years of Trump, but 30,000 innocent lives of Palestinians have been lost, and they cannot live through another Joe Biden presidency.”
Meanwhile, there’s evidence the “uncommitted” campaign started by Michigan’s Arab Americans is spreading. In the March 5 Super Tuesday Democratic primary contests, 19% of Minnesota voters and 13% of North Carolinians voted “uncommitted.”
The “uncommitted” movement now shifts its focus to Washington state, which holds its primary on March 12.