Donald Trump wins Michigan primary ‘by a wide margin’

Donald Trump won the Michigan Republican primary by a wide margin, further solidifying his control of the race for the White House, according to predictions from Edison Research.

Now that most of the votes have passed, Trump won 68% of the vote and Nikki Haley won 27%.

Joe Biden also won the state’s Democratic primary, defeating rival Dean Phillips, but thousands of voters expressed their anger over the conflict in Gaza by marking their ballots “uncommitted.”

The campaign could become an issue in key swing states that he won by less than 3% in 2020 and that he may not be able to afford to lose this year if he wants to win a second term.

Trump won the state by just 11,000 votes over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016 and lost to Biden four years later by nearly 154,000 votes.

With nearly half of the Democratic votes counted, the number of “not voting” voters stands at more than 58,000, according to Edison Research. The number far exceeded the target of 10,000 non-voters that protest organizers had been hoping for. Biden received 80% of the vote, while the undecided received 13%.

Many in Michigan’s Arab American community who supported Biden in 2020, as well as some progressive Democrats, are angry about the U.S. president’s support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza.

“Our movement delivered a victory tonight that far exceeded our expectations. Tens of thousands of Michigan Democrats, many of whom voted for Biden in 2020, are not committed to re-electing him because of the war in Gaza .” The Hear Michigan campaign urged people to vote Uncommitted, the campaign said in a statement.

Campaign organizers vowed to take their anti-war agenda to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August.

In a statement, Biden did not directly acknowledge the “uncommitted” effort, but warned that Trump “threatens to drag us further into the past as he seeks revenge and retribution.”

“This fight for our freedoms, working families and our democracy is going to require all of us coming together,” Biden said. “I know we will.”

For Trump’s camp, the latest results mean he has swept the first five Republican primary states.

On Tuesday, shortly before he was predicted to be the winner, his remaining rival Nikki Haley vowed to continue competing.

“We’re only seeing a handful of states vote,” Haley told CNN. “We’re taking this state one day at a time.”

She vowed to continue campaigning at least until next week’s Super Tuesday, March 5.

On Saturday, Trump defeated Haley by 30 points in her home state of South Carolina. With 58% of Republican votes counted, Trump had 67% support and Haley 27%, according to Edison Research.

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump said in an interview with Michigan radio station WJR-AM: “I mean, Nikki is not a factor at all. She’s going to lose tonight by 80 points or something. She’s become a joke. .”

For Biden, a large number of voters choosing “no commitment” could mean he’s in major trouble with parts of his Democratic base in a state he can’t afford to lose.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other Democrats have warned that if Democratic voters abandon Biden, they could hand swing states and the country back to Trump in the election.

Officials from the White House and Biden campaign have traveled to Michigan in recent weeks to talk with community leaders about Israel’s war with Hamas and how Biden will handle the conflict.

The grassroots effort is encouraging voters to choose “no commitment” as a way to express opposition to his handling of Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, the most significant political challenge facing Biden in the early campaign.

The group Our Revolution said it would send a message to Biden asking him to “immediately change course on Gaza or risk losing Michigan to Trump in November.”

Richard Czuba, a pollster who has long tracked Michigan politics, said the total number of “uncommitted” votes would need to reach 20 to 30 percentage points for Democrats to become a concern in November.

“Twenty percent caught my attention,” he said. “If it goes up to 25%, it’s going to cause more concern, and if it goes up above 30%, I think that’s a signal that there’s a pretty big problem with Joe Biden’s supporters.”

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