In this state, which swings between Democrats and Republicans, Joe Biden won by only 154,000 votes in 2020. The approximately 300,000 Americans of Arab origin therefore represent an important issue.
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Michigan, this state in the north of the country, on the border with Canada, is a barometer for Joe Biden’s campaign team. Since October 7, and the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, criticism of the president’s foreign policy has been mounting. To mark their opposition to a policy deemed too pro-Israel, some of the 300,000 voters of Arab origin are calling for the equivalent of a blank ballot to be placed in the ballot box. This could mark the ongoing primary campaign to nominate future presidential candidates.
In the suburbs of Detroit, the town of Dearborn has the largest Muslim community in the country. The Democratic mayor, Abdullah Hammoud, recently wrote an op-ed in the New York Times to explain the reasons for his anger. On CNN, he also explains: “A resident came to the municipal council to say that he had lost more than 80 members of his family in Gaza. The question everyone was asking, while offering condolences, was : ‘What are you going to vote for in November?’“
“It’s completely dehumanizing to think about Palestinian lives only in the context of polls.”
Abdullah Hammoud, Mayor of Dearborn, Michiganon CNN
“If President Biden wants to take a tough stance, he can start by restricting military aid to Israel and calling for a ceasefire”adds the mayor of Dearborn.
The elected official specifies that he considers Donald Trump to be a threat to democracy but he refused to meet Joe Biden during his visit to Dearborn at the beginning of February. The question now is whether the “genocidal Joe” signs and calls to “abandon Biden” can cost him his re-election in November.
