The primary election for the November presidential election is being held today in the US state of Michigan. Donald Trump looks set to defeat Nikki Haley again in the Republican primary, while potentially being chastised by Joe Biden's Middle East policy.
Joe Biden's nomination for November is certain because he faces no serious opposition within his own party. According to polls, his only opponent, Minnesota congressman Dean Phillips, will get 10 percent of the vote. However, that doesn't mean the primaries will be a big win for the incumbent president.
Biden is sponsoring bombs falling on loved ones of families living in Michigan
Laila Elabette from the group 'Listen to Michigan'
For example, he seems to be losing support among Muslims and Americans with Arab roots because of US policy on the war in the Gaza Strip. The decisive electorate for Biden in 2020 was in 'battleground state' Michigan, where he defeated Donald Trump by just 150,000 votes.
How are elections conducted?
Americans do not elect their president directly, but through the Electoral College. It consists of electors who formally elect the president based on results in their state.
Electoral votes are distributed through the 'winner-takes-all system' in almost all states. This means that the candidate who gets the most votes will get all the electoral votes of that state, even if they do not have an absolute majority. For example, in Michigan, anyone who gets 1 vote more than any other candidate gets all 15 electoral votes.
A battleground state — where the margin of electoral votes between the two candidates is narrow — can therefore have an even bigger impact on the final results of elections at the national level. Whoever can collect a majority of those 538 electoral votes during the elections — the magic number 270 — will be elected the new President of the United States.
Blank ballots
Militants are now calling for empty votes in protest and calling for pressure on Biden to back away from his support for Israel and call for an immediate ceasefire. “President Biden is funding bombs that make the loved ones of families who live here in Michigan, the people who voted for him, feel completely betrayed,” said Laila Elabed of the group 'Listen to Michigan'.
Ten thousand votes, which is similar to Trump's margin over Clinton in Michigan in 2016.
Laila Elabette from the group 'Listen to Michigan'
The group wants to recruit 10,000 voters and spread a “strong and clear message” that funding and support for the war is “against the values of the Democratic Party.” “Ten thousand votes, that's about the same margin Donald Trump had over Hillary Clinton in Michigan in 2016,” Elabett added. For her, it was more than a symbolic act.
Polls favor Trump
Rashida Tlieb, a Democrat in the House of Representatives for Michigan, called before the primary to not vote for Biden and instead write 'undecided' on the ballot. The campaign, backed by Arab-American leaders, is gaining widespread support, including in the city of Dearborn, where 55 percent of the 110,000 residents have Middle Eastern or North African roots, Reuters news agency writes.
According to polls compiled by realclearpolitics.com, Donald Trump will beat Joe Biden in Michigan in November, though many polls have the difference within the margin of error. A recent poll by local news site Detroit Free Press indicates 14 percent of voters are still undecided.
Trump cannot defeat Nikki Haley with more than three-quarters of the vote and a lead of more than 50 percent this Tuesday. It was the sixth straight loss for Haley, who has said she will stay in the race because she wants to give Republicans a choice.
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