Washington : Because of his stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict, U.S. President Joe Biden is rapidly losing the support of Muslim voters in Michigan.
In Michigan in 2020, thousands of American Muslims cast ballots in favor of Biden, defeating Trump.
Due to Biden’s stance on the Palestinian issue, Hammoud, an American immigration lawyer who is Palestinian, expressed uncertainty about whether or not she will vote for him again in 2024.
She’s watched the Biden administration offer unwavering support to Israel with no red lines for the Jewish country and no calls for a ceasefire, even as thousands of civilians in Gaza have been killed.
“He’s (Biden) has put us in a very difficult situation,” Hammoud told CNN. “It has become almost impossible for me, morally, to vote for someone that’s taken the stances that he’s taken in the past few weeks.”
Even though they make up a small portion of the electorate, Arab and Muslim Americans have a significant impact in swing areas like Michigan, where the Muslims’ rejection of Biden could cost him reelection because they feel misled and hurt by his administration.
More than 200,000 Muslim Americans live in Michigan, and 146,000 of them cast ballots in 2020, according to a report by Emgage Action, a group that works to increase Muslim political influence. By a mere 155,000 votes, Biden prevailed in Michigan, a state that went very nearly to Donald Trump in 2016.
“It just proves that Biden administration needs the Muslim votes to win,” said Nada Al-Hanooti, the Michigan executive director of Emgage Action.
The stakes are particularly high in Dearborn, a Detroit suburb where more than half of the population is of Middle Eastern or North African descent. In nearly a dozen interviews, Democrats there who voted for, campaigned for and donated to Biden’s political campaign say they can’t imagine voting for him now, even if he were to support the community’s primary request: an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the reports said.
The Republican Party ran on ideas they believed would be even worse for people in the Middle East and the Palestinian territories, such as cutting off aid to Gaza and reintroducing President Trump’s visa restriction to select nations with a majority of Muslims.
Many Arab and Muslim Americans who voted for Biden say they can’t fathom voting for him again or persuading friends and family to do the same.
Democratic strategist Abbas Alawieh, who once worked in Republic Rashida Tlaib’s congressional office and represents Dearborn, stated unequivocally that “our President is in trouble in Michigan.”
“The political ramifications of this are as deep as the pain people are experiencing, and that is bone-deep.”
The Muslim American voter power in Michigan is visible at a local level. In 2018, Tlaib, a Palestinian American was the first of his community to be elected to Congress; she is now a vocal critic of Israel and the US administration’s response to the conflict in Gaza.
The House voted Wednesday to block a resolution to censure Tlaib over her comments supporting Palestinians and condemning Israel’s actions.
In 2021, former state Republic Abdullah Hammoud became the first Arab and Muslim American elected as the mayor of Dearborn. Hammoud, who has also been critical of the Biden administration’s response, said he rejects the premise of the question of how Muslim and Arab Americans will vote in 2024.
“We’re not here to prostitute ourselves to the lowest bidder in order for us to be recognised for our humanity,” he said. For many Arab Americans, Biden’s strong support for Israel isn’t a surprise given his history.
In the last few weeks Biden’s image has also dipped in the Arab community.
