Gaza War a deepening minefield for Biden and the Democrats

Time may be their friend. If a ceasefire is brokered and violence recedes, the ‘genocide Joe’ voters may realise Trump is worse on the issues they care about.

As the war rages on in Gaza, pro-Palestine Americans have increasingly focussed their frustrations on President Biden and the Democrats. Despite his expressed intentions, Biden has been unable to broker a ceasefire. And the Biden administration seeks to provide additional billions in military support to Israel.

These tensions came into focus during last week’s Democratic presidential primary in Michigan. In late January, a movement called “Listen to Michigan” formed, urging Democratic voters to “Tell Biden, Count Me Out for Genocide”, its goal to encourage enough voters to tick “Uncommitted” rather than Biden in order to “demonstrate that we hold his margin of victory for re-election.”

Their campaign succeeded, with more than  100,000 votes (16%) cast for Uncommitted. In the city of Dearborn, with a 54% Arab American population, Uncommitted came in ahead of Biden.

It’s not just Americans of Arab descent who supported the Uncommitted campaign. The Jewish former Democratic Congressman Andy Levin (2019-23), author of the Two-State Solution Act, was a key spokesperson for the campaign. He told Democracy Now that the message to Biden is “you must change course for the sake of your re-election.”

It is undeniable that Biden has strengthened his resolve, as demonstrated by his initiating a series of airdrops of humanitarian aid. Representative Jim Banks (R-IN) criticised Biden as “basing his foreign policy on a Michigan election that he’s going to lose.”