Biden Faces Trouble in Swing State That Helped Him Beat Trump in 2020

President Joe Biden’s support among Arab American voters in Michigan, a crucial swing state, is waning. This demographic’s backing is essential for the 2024 election outcome.

A recent national poll of Arab Americans, conducted since the onset of the Israel-Hamas conflict, reveals a stark decline in support for Biden, with only 17% indicating they would vote for him in the upcoming year. This figure represents a significant fall from the 59% who voted for him in 2020, according to the Arab American Institute.

For the first time in over two decades, a majority of Arab American voters have expressed a preference away from the Democratic Party. Michigan’s Arab American community, which numbers approximately 300,000 and is of Middle Eastern or North African descent, was instrumental in Biden’s victory over former President Donald Trump in 2020. This was a rebound from Hillary Clinton’s narrow defeat in 2016. Democrats had previously considered the state a steadfast “blue wall” in the industrial upper Midwest, which Biden reclaimed with an even larger margin than Trump’s victory over Clinton.

Dearborn, part of the Detroit metropolitan area, is under particular scrutiny. It boasts the nation’s most rapidly expanding Arab American population. Criticism of the Biden administration’s handling of the Gaza conflict has been vocal from Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud and Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).

Following an attack on Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians, both officials intensified their censure. The Israeli government and U.S. intelligence attributed the incident to a misfired rocket by Islamic Jihad, whereas Hamas claimed it was due to an Israeli air raid that led to over 500 Palestinian casualties.

“Still, nothing could have prepared us for the complete erasure of our voices and radio silence from those whom we elected to protect and represent us,” Hammoud said. He lamented the lack of attention to family members trapped in Gaza, the ignored calls for a ceasefire, and the media’s portrayal of the Palestinian casualties as mere collateral damage.

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