The President of the United States, Joe Biden, and the former head of state Donald Trump won the Michigan primaries without difficulty, according to projections in the North American press, increasing the chances of them facing each other in the November presidential elections.
Biden on Tuesday defeated Congressman Dean Phillips of Minnesota, the only significant opponent left in the Democratic primary.
However, the head of state faced a movement of Democratic voters disillusioned with his support for Israel in the war in Gaza and who launched a local campaign to convince the Michigan electorate to cast a protest vote once morest Biden.
With 25% of the votes counted, Biden achieved 79.8% of support, with 14.5% of the votes being attributed to the “uncommitted” option (uncommitted delegates, the equivalent of a blank vote), a demonstration of dissatisfaction with the American position in Gaza and a warning sign in an important state that might help determine the outcome of this year’s presidential elections. According to the Associated Press (AP), the number of votes for the “uncommitted” option has already far exceeded the margin of 10,000 votes by which Trump won Michigan in 2016, exceeding the goal set by the organizers of the protest movement.
“President Biden is financing the bombs that fall on family members of people who live right here in Michigan, people who voted for him and who feel completely betrayed,” explained Layla Elabed, leader of the movement.
As the number of civilian casualties in the conflict between Israel and Hamas rises, Joe Biden has seen support decline significantly among Arab Americans, a bloc that was crucial for the Democrat in 2020 in Michigan.
Dean Phillips received 2.8% of the vote. In the Republican primaries, Trump once once more defeated former ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, advancing solidly towards the Republican presidential nomination.
The tycoon did not deviate from the predictions provided by the polls and will arrive even stronger on one of the key dates of the primary elections: “Super Tuesday”, on March 5th, when 15 states are called to the polls, including California and Texas, the largest in the country.
Despite yet another defeat, Haley stated in an interview with CNN, minutes following the polls closed, that she is not withdrawing from the race, in which she will remain at least until “Super Tuesday”, as she has “a country to save”.
With 28% of the votes counted, Trump has 67% support and Haley 28.1%.
In terms of numbers, Tuesday’s primary is underrepresented.
Because the state’s primary election date violates GOP rules, to avoid sanctions, Michigan Republicans will award just 16 of their 55 delegates from Tuesday’s results.
The remaining delegates will be designated at the party’s state convention, on March 2, in yet another peculiarity of the complex and long primary calendar in the United States.
Nikki Haley is Trump’s only rival to remain in the race, despite having not yet achieved any victory and following losing the primaries in her home state and where she was governor, South Carolina, on Saturday.
At the time, the Republican candidate obtained 40% of the votes, a significant number that allowed her to justify remaining in the primaries.