Joe Biden Will Struggle to Quash Rebellion Against Him

President Joe Biden easily won the Democratic Party's primary in Michigan on Tuesday, but the results showed that the "uncommitted" vote could threaten his campaign to win the swing state in November.

Biden dominated the primary, securing more than 618,000 votes, and 81 percent of the total.

But more than 101,000 "uncommitted" votes—about 13 percent of the total—had been counted as of 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday, according to results published by The Associated Press.

Tuesday's results were the first sign of how a backlash over Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza could pose a problem for his campaign in a state that he won by less than 3 percent in 2020 and likely needs to win in 2024 to secure a second term.

Michigan has the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the nation. In the city of Dearborn, where Arab Americans represent almost half of the population, more people voted "uncommitted" than for Biden.

The Listen to Michigan campaign began its push for Democrat voters to tick "uncommitted" on their ballots just a few weeks ago as part of an effort to pressure Biden to demand a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Nearly 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its offensive in response to Hamas' October 7 attack, The Associated Press reports, citing Palestinian health officials. Hamas' attack on Israel killed 1,200 people and about 250 Israelis were kidnapped and taken into Gaza as hostages.

The "uncommitted" campaign was hoping to win at least 10,000 votes, noting that former president Donald Trump won Michigan by about that margin in 2016.

"Uncommitted Michigan Democrats opposed to Biden's policy in Gaza can demonstrate that we hold his margin of victory for re-election," the campaign's website says. "Biden must earn our vote through a dramatic change in policy."

Tuesday's results mean that the campaign will "likely receive, at the very least, one delegate at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago," the campaign wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Newsweek has contacted the Listen to Michigan campaign and the Biden campaign for comment via email.

Michigan's Democratic primary rules mean candidates can receive delegates by earning at least 15 percent of the vote in a specific congressional district.

"Our movement emerged victorious tonight and massively surpassed our expectations. Tens of thousands of Michigan Democrats, many of whom voted for Biden in 2020, are uncommitted to his re-election due to the war in Gaza," the campaign wrote on X.

"President Biden has funded the bombs falling on the family members of people who live right here in Michigan. People who voted for him, who now feel completely betrayed. President Biden, listen to Michigan. Count us out, Joe."

In another post, the campaign added: "Our delegation plans to hold the Democratic nominee accountable to our community's anti-war agenda at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. See you there."

But Richard Czuba, a pollster who has long tracked Michigan politics, told The Associated Press that the "uncommitted" vote totals would need to be between 20 and 30 percentage points for Democrats to worry about their impact in November.

"Twenty percent gets my attention. If it rises to 25 percent that gets a lot more attention and if it rises above 30 percent, I think that's a signal that Joe Biden has pretty substantial issues in his base," he added.

In a statement, Biden did not directly acknowledge the "uncommitted" campaign, instead touting what his administration has done for the people of Michigan.

"For all of this progress, there is so much left to do," he said, warning that Trump is "threatening to drag us even further into the past as he pursues revenge and retribution."

He added: "This fight for our freedoms, for working families, and for Democracy is going to take all of us coming together. I know that we will."