Disillusioned by American policy in the Middle East, the Arab diaspora could abandon the Democrats – rts.ch

Michigan is one of the so-called “pivot” states for the presidential election. Over the past 60 years, it has supported the Republican candidate six times and the Democratic candidate nine times. In 2020, Joe Biden won by only 155,000 votes against Donald Trump. But since the war in Gaza, the situation has changed. The Democrats’ support for Israel has sparked anger and incomprehension.

Al Ameer, al Shibani, Shatila… The restaurant fronts give Dearborn an air of the Orient. With 110,000 inhabitants of Middle Eastern or North African origin, this suburb of Detroit is the first city with an Arab majority in the United States. In the street, despite the apparent calm, anger is rumbling.

Voices that may be decisive

“As a Palestinian, it is very hurtful to see that, just because someone comes from a different country, they are not considered a human being,” a resident whose two parents are Palestinian told RTS’s La Matinale on Wednesday.

We send billions of dollars of American tax money to bomb children. Why can’t we spend that money here in America?

“A lot of people have tried to evade the Palestinian cause for years, but now we see that a lot of Americans are waking up and seeing what’s really going on. They see that we’re sending billions of dollars of American tax money to bomb children. Why can’t we spend that money here in America? So a lot of people are getting upset!” he continued.

For him, there is no awareness of this problem among Democrats. “Unfortunately, I don’t think Biden and his administration understand that they could lose Michigan because of a few thousand votes. Yet, it was with 10,000 votes that Trump won in 2016! And 100,000 people voted blank in February 2022 [lors des élections de mi-mandat, ndlr]. “It was a message for Joe Biden, a message for Kamala Harris and for the Democrats. A way of saying that people don’t like the way things are going in Palestine,” the young man explains.

Kamala Harris, an opportunity?

Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud himself had called for a boycott in 2022. Today, however, he says he is ready to give Kamala Harris a chance. “The doors have opened. There is now an opportunity for dialogue to allow us to understand how President Harris is going to differentiate herself from President Biden,” he said on Detroit PBS television.

“We have seen so far that she has shown firmness in her words following her private meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu. But more than firmness in her words, we hope that she will show firmness in her policies,” he hopes.

It was a big mistake to vote for Biden, and Kamala is doing the same thing!

Others, too disappointed by Joe Biden, no longer expect anything from the Democrats, like the manager of a Yemeni café in Dearborn. “It was a big mistake to have voted for Biden, and Kamala is doing the same thing! She comes to reach out to the community leaders and says: ‘We will give you a seat at the table.’ It seems like they reserved the table, but they never showed up,” he imagines, before insisting: “I don’t trust the Democrats, period!”

The economy, the nerve of war

His distrust is such that he regrets not having voted for Donald Trump 4 years ago. “Trump is someone who does not like war. We tested him as president for 4 years and we did not have a war. I think he is made to be president. He likes to see this country prosper, he likes to see the economy do well and that is what we want,” he argues.

The economy is the number one concern for this small business owner, and the war in the Middle East is not good for his business. “We are a Yemeni coffee shop, specializing in importing organic coffee. Everything that is happening in the Red Sea is hampering our business and increasing the cost of shipping… It is causing a lot of problems for business owners all over the country and around the world, I am sure.”

Nothing is decided in Michigan. Abstention, Trump or Harris: many people confided to RTS, off the microphone, that they still do not know who they are going to vote for.

Radio report: Virginie Gerhard

Web adaptation: Vincent Cherpillod