Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer expressed concern that President Joe Biden risks losing support among Arab and Muslim Americans in the swing state because of his support for Israel in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The risk is coming into focus with the Michigan primaries, where Biden’s detractors are urging Democrats to protest by sitting out the vote or casting “uncommitted” ballots on Tuesday. Democrats have told the president’s team they’re worried his pro-Israel stance will alienate voters in a state he won narrowly in 2020 that’s home to a large Arab American population.
“I’m not sure what we’re going to see on Tuesday, to tell you the truth,” Whitmer, the state’s Democratic governor, told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I know that we’ve got this primary and we will see differences of opinion. I’m just not sure what to expect.”
Biden trails Republican front-runner Donald Trump 47% to 42% in Michigan in a hypothetical 2024 rematch, according to a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll in January.
Top administration officials met Arab and Muslim community leaders in Michigan this month as Biden faces a backlash over Israel’s assault that has left 29,000 people dead, most of them Palestinian civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
Whitmer urged voters to recall Trump’s executive actions as president to block travel to the U.S. by citizens of several countries with a Muslim majority.
“I just want to make the case, though, that it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that any vote that’s not cast for Joe Biden supports a second Trump term,” she said.
