Trump, Biden win Michigan primaries

US President Joe Biden easily won the democratic presidential primary in Michigan, but a protest vote by Democrats angry over his support for Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza exceeded organisers' expectations, reports AFP.

Donald Trump won the state's republican presidential primary by a large margin, strengthening his grip on the party’s White House nomination as Nikki Haley, his last remaining rival, came in a distant second.
Although Biden and republican former President Trump had been expected to easily win their separate party primaries, the vote count for both was being closely watched for signs of wavering support.

In Michigan, home to a large Arab-American constituency, Democratic voters had been urged to mark their primary ballots as "uncommitted" in protest at Biden's Gaza policy.

With almost half of Democratic votes counted, the number of "uncommitted" voters was more than 58,000, according to Edison Research, far exceeding the target of 10,000 that protest organisers had hoped for.

Many in Michigan's Arab-American community who backed Mr Biden in 2020 are angry, as are some progressive Democrats, over Biden's support for Israel's offensive in Hamas-ruled Gaza where tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed.

Campaign organisers vowed to take what they called their anti-war agenda to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August.

Partial returns showed Biden and Trump with solid overall leads. With nearly half the estimated Democratic vote counted, Biden had 80% support, with "uncommitted" getting 13%. With 58% of the estimated Republican vote counted, Trump had 67% support to Nikki Haley's 27%, Edison Research said.

When former president Barack Obama, a Democrat, ran for re-election in 2012, he faced about 21,000 "uncommitted" voters in Michigan's primary that year. Biden faced substantially more.

Michigan is expected to play a decisive role in the head-to-head 5 November US presidential election, a likely rematch between Biden and Trump.

It is a battleground state that could swing toward either party. Biden beat Trump in Michigan by just 2.8 percentage points in the 2020 election.

Nikki Haley to carry on

Michigan turnout for former UN Ambassador Haley, who won nearly 40% of republican votes in her home state of South Carolina on Saturday, was also being scrutinised for signs of vulnerability for Trump among moderates, whose support he would need in a general election.

Despite having lost to Trump in every primary race, Ms Haley has performed well with moderate voters, although she has no clear path to the nomination.

Shortly before Trump was announced as the winner in Michigan, Ms Haley vowed to carry on.

"We've only seen a handful of states vote," Ms Haley told CNN. "We're taking this one state one day at a time."

Earlier, Biden said Israel had agreed to halt military activities in Gaza for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan expected to begin on the evening of 10 March, as Hamas studied a draft for a truce that includes a prisoner-hostage exchange.

Engage Action and Listen to Michigan said before the vote they were aiming for 10% of Michigan's Democratic primary voters to mark their ballots uncommitted, a symbolically significant 10,000 votes, about equal to Democrat Hillary Clinton's loss in Michigan to Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and other Democrats have warned that if Democratic voters abandon Biden, they could hang the swing state and the country back to Trump in November.  Biden defeated Trump in the 2020 election.