Michigan voters are talking about how the war in Gaza played a role in their decision

When Tuesday began, 18-year-old Mohanad Gazzaley was not registered to vote and had not previously heard of the campaign to vote “unfettered” in protest of President Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza. Standing on the steps of his parents’ home in Hamtramck, a suburb of Detroit, he spoke in the early afternoon with an interlocutor from the Detroit chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.

An hour later, Mr. Gazzaley was registered to vote, emerging from Hamtramck City Hall with two friends — also 18-year-old first-time voters — whom he had brought with him.

“I voted entirely for the Democratic Party because I want a ceasefire in Palestine,” said Saleh Zamzami, one of Mr. Gazzaley’s friends.

The devastating toll of the war in Gaza has sparked outrage in the United States, with protest movements taking hold in many cities and on college campuses. That anger may be felt most keenly in Michigan, home to some of the country’s largest Arab-American communities and where Tuesday’s Democratic presidential primary provided an outlet to express it.

“What’s happening there is terrifying — to see children dying, it’s just sad,” said Mr. Gazzaley, whose family moved to the United States from Yemen five years ago, as he talked to the Inquirer. He said he would also tell his parents to vote.

But Ali Abbas, 44, of Dearborn, wasn’t convinced by the campaign to vote “unfettered.” He voted for Biden despite doubts about his policies in the Middle East.

“He’s not perfect,” Mr. Abbas said. ‘But I don’t want to embarrass him. He is a good man.”

Lon Herman, 73, said he voted for Mr. Biden in 2020. But on Tuesday he volunteered with the Democratic Socialists to help with the “unoccupied” effort in Hamtramck.

“We need to make sure the White House knows its policies are unacceptable,” he said. But, he added, he expects to vote for the president again. “If it goes between him and Trump, the Palestinian issue would essentially be a flop, so I would have to hold my nose and vote for the Democrat, as I usually do.”

Michele Ross, 65, said she voted for Biden as a show of support amid mounting criticism of him, especially his age.

“I think what people are referring to as maybe a decline in mental capacity is not that at all,” said Ms. Ross, who voted in East Grand Rapids. “I don’t think he’s slowed down.”

Lindsay Briefel, a 34-year-old Democrat and nursing student, cast her vote in Rockford, a small city north of Grand Rapids. She voted for the “uncommitted” option, citing Mr. Biden’s age and his handling of the war in Gaza, but said she could still vote for the president in November.

“My confidence is not entirely in Biden,” Ms. Briefel said. “I just don’t want to give the impression that we don’t have a position on anything.”

James DuPree, a 31-year-old independent, said he often leans Democratic but was upset by the massive death toll of the war in Gaza. Mr. DuPree will not vote for Mr. Biden again, he said. So he cast his vote for Nikki Haley instead.

However, that doesn’t mean he likes Mrs. Haley.

“To the point about Nikki Haley,” Mr. DuPree said. “I say that while I’m throwing up a little in my mouth, because even last year she couldn’t acknowledge that slavery was the cause of the Civil War.”

45-year-old Monica Otlacan took the oath to become an American citizen last month after living in the United States for thirteen years. Born in Romania, Ms. Otlacan thought she would be more excited if she exercised her newly acquired right to vote. Instead, she said, she wasn’t happy with any of her choices. She also voted for Ms. Haley during the Republican primaries.

“I thought this would be different,” Ms. Otlacan said. “I’m not happy with what I have to choose. Why are we here in this situation? There are so many people with potential in America. Why are we in this situation?”

Sam Easter reporting contributed.