Biden’s Michigan primary win soured by unexpected ‘uncommitted’ votes

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday (Feb 27) managed to easily win the Democratic presidential primary in Michigan but a protest vote by a section of angry Democrat voters against his policy regarding the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, soured the occasion.

The swing state of Michigan, home to a large Arab American constituency saw the Democratic voters mark their primary ballots as “uncommitted”, in protest of Biden’s support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

According to the Michigan Department of State, selecting ‘uncommitted’ implies that the voter is exercising a party vote but not committed to the candidates on the ballot.

Since the war broke out in October last year, Biden has supported Israel’s call to attack the Gaza Strip to neutralise Hamas, even though it comes at the cost of the lives of thousands of innocent Palestinians.

Although multiple US media projections showed that Biden won nearly 80 per cent of the total vote, the number of Democrats voting “uncommitted” exceeded the expectations of the Biden camp. As of the last update, more than 58,000 ‘uncommitted’ votes had been registered against the expected 10,000 mark.

Activists from the group Listen to Michigan hailed the size of the “uncommitted” vote as a victory. People were in tears at the organisation’s watch party as tallies were periodically updated.