Although the two parties’ respective front-runners handily won Tuesday’s Michigan primary, the results presented a potential problem for the incumbent.

Following a push from some far-left politicos in the state, more than 100,000 voters rejected President Joe Biden in favor of the “uncommitted” ballot option.

In the Arab-majority city of Dearborn, there were more uncommitted votes cast than those in support of the president.

The incoming results evoked shock from media analysts including CNN’s John King.

Over 100,000 Michiganders vote uncommitted over Biden 😝 pic.twitter.com/4ADksHk3VB

— Natalie Jean Beisner (@NJBeisner) February 28, 2024

“That’s a wow,” he said while tallying the votes. “This is just the city of Dearborn, but that is the biggest pocket of the Muslim-American, the Arab-American population. This is a place President Biden carried big time in 2020. This is key to his chances of defeating Donald Trump in Michigan.”

https://youtu.be/xSuxCMOKNBw?si=yi3ijTg4HdrOztoz

While Biden carried the night statewide, his poor polling performance across all swing states — including Michigan — in a head-to-head matchup against former President Donald Trump have made it clear that he cannot afford to lose loyal Democratic voters if he hopes to win a second term.

Trump won Michigan by a slim 11,000 votes in 2016, losing it four years later to Biden with a roughly 154,000-vote deficit. In response to leftist backlash against Biden’s Middle East policies, many Democratic voters, particularly in Michigan, say they will not vote for him in November. 

“Four years ago I voted for Joe Biden,” explained one Dearborn resident who voted “uncommitted” on Tuesday. “It was important that we vote to get Trump out of office. Today, I feel very disappointed in Joe Biden and I don’t feel like I did the right thing last election. If Trump is the nominee in November, I would not vote for Trump. I would not vote for Trump or Biden. I don’t think, in terms of foreign policy, there will be any difference.”

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), who fueled the push to drive up the number of uncommitted votes in the state, said after the election that she was proud of her effort.

“Hi everyone, it’s Rashida,” she began a social media video post. “I was proud today to walk in and pull a Democratic ballot and vote uncommitted. We must protect our democracy, we must make sure that our government is about us, about the people. When 74% of Democrats in Michigan support a ceasefire [in Gaza] yet President Biden is not hearing us, this is the way we can use our democracy to say listen.”