Senior White House officials are set to meet with Muslim leaders in Michigan as President Joe Biden trails former President Donald Trump across several swing states, four sources familiar with the plans told The Detroit News.
Since the terrorist organization Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, Biden and his administration have pledged support to the country. The president’s pro-Israel stance has caused Muslims to abandon their support for Biden, who also faces tough polling as he trails Trump in hypothetical matchups. Amid the tension, several White House officials are planning to meet with elected officials and leaders in the Michigan Arab and Muslim communities to discuss policy related to the Israel-Hamas war, four sources familiar with the plans told The Detroit News.
Those set to visit include Tom Perez, director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer and White House liaison to American Muslim Communities Mazen Basrawi, the sources told The Detroit News.
Biden’s reelection campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez was planning to meet with Muslim leaders in Michigan in January, but the elected officials ended up declining the invite, The Detroit News reported. The meeting, set to take place in Dearborn, Michigan, was also supposed to include mayors and state lawmakers.
A truck parked third street sw displays a sign calling on President Biden and Congress for a ceasefire in view of the U.S. Capitol on January 16, 2024 in Washington, DC. The biggest snowfall in more than two years blanketed the Washington Metropolitan area shutting down schools and halting flights across the region. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
Biden’s pro-Israel stance has faced backlash from the Muslim community and even members of his own administration. The National Muslim Democratic Council, which includes Democratic Party leaders from swing states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio, promised in October to withhold support from the president if he failed to call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. A coalition of State Department staffers accused the president in November of “spreading misinformation” related to the Israel-Hamas war. (RELATED: Anti-Israel Biden Staffer Protest Derailed By 3 Inches Of Snow In DC)
After Biden won Michigan by about 150,000 votes in the 2020 presidential election, the president has begun to lose support from Muslim and Arab communities. About two-thirds of Michigan Muslim and Arab Americans said in November that they would not vote for Biden in the 2024 election, according to a Lake Research Partners poll, reported first by NBC News.
Biden is trailing Trump in hypothetical matchups across several key swing states including Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada and North Carolina, according to a Morning Consult/Bloomberg survey. Trump has as large as a nine point lead over Biden across the states.