With 95% counted in Michigan, Gaza protest votes below benchmark thought needed to require major Biden shift

Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

US President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign rally at Pearson Community Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, on February 4, 2024. (Saul Loeb/AFP)
US President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign rally at Pearson Community Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, on February 4, 2024. (Saul Loeb/AFP)

With 95 percent of the votes counted from yesterday’s Michigan primary, over 101,000 people were found to have cast “uncommitted” ballots in protest of Biden’s Israel-Hamas war policies.

The figure is far more than the 21,000 who voted “uncommitted” in the Michigan primary when Democratic President Barack Obama ran for re-election in 2012.

However, it only amounted to 13% of yesterday’s voters.

Before the primary, analysts speculated that a total of 10 to 15% uncommitteds would be noteworthy, but unlikely to require a change in Biden’s approach, while anything above 15% would require minor adjustments, and anything above 20% to demand major shifts in the US stance on the Gaza war.

Notably, Biden still won 81% of the vote, compared to GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, who won 68% of the vote, besting Nikki Haley by 41 percentage points.

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