Correspondent in Washington,
Joe Biden and Donald Trump won their party's primaries in Michigan by a wide margin.
Their nomination as candidates for the presidential election is no longer in doubt.
But the results indicate potential weaknesses for their respective campaigns.
Trump, with 66% of the vote, is more than twenty points ahead of Nikki Haley, his last Republican rival still in the primary race.
This new victory in Michigan, after those won in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, confirms the former president's domination of the Republican Party.
But Haley's score, which garnered 29% of the vote, continues to pose a problem for Trump.
If she is not able to challenge him for the nomination, Haley continues to disrupt the speech of her campaign which presents the former president as the unique and irresistible candidate of her camp.
And above all, Nikki Haley's score in Michigan, after those she won in New Hampshire and South Carolina, confirms that more than a quarter of Republican voters do not want a new candidacy for Trump.
Even if some of these dissidents end up rallying, their numbers indicate that conservative votes could be lacking for Trump in the general election.
Joe Biden wins 79% of the vote
On the Democratic side, Joe Biden also unsurprisingly won the primary in Michigan with 79% of the vote.
His only rival, Minnesota Representative Dean Philips, obtained only 2.8% of the vote.
But a more worrying figure for the Democratic president is the 14.8% of blank (“uncommitted”) ballots, cast by Democratic voters in Michigan in opposition to his policy of supporting Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.
A large part of this protest vote, some 23,000 votes, came from voters of Arab origin, many of whom in Michigan.
In Dearborn, which has the highest concentration of Arab Americans in the United States, nearly two-thirds of the ballots were blank.
The protest movement within the Democratic Party against the Biden administration's Middle East policy goes far beyond Arab Americans.
It includes entire sections of the left wing of the party and young people.
If these voters were to be missing from the Democratic candidate in the November presidential election, their absence would have serious consequences for Biden.
A defeat in Michigan would also be a big handicap for his re-election.
A swing state, Michigan played an important role in recent primaries and presidential elections.
Donald Trump's victory in Michigan was one of the factors in his election against Hillary Clinton in 2016. Biden won Michigan in 2020, tipping this state into the Democratic camp.
If we don't have someone who can win the general election, all we're doing is giving in to the left and socialism."
Nikki Haley
The confrontation between Biden and Trump next November is now almost beyond doubt.
Barring any drama, “Super Tuesday”
which
sees around fifteen states hold their primaries simultaneously on March 5, and where more than a third of the delegates of each party will be allocated, should confirm the domination of each candidate on his party, and their nomination during this summer's conventions.
But despite its inevitability, the prospect of a new duel between Trump and Biden does not satisfy the vast majority of Americans.
Nikki Haley, who is maintaining her candidacy for the Republican primaries against all odds, is sending Joe Biden and Donald Trump back to back.
She continued her campaign in Colorado, one of the states scheduled to vote on March 5, where she warned the Republican Party of the prospect of another defeat in November if Trump is again the candidate.
“If we don't have someone who can win the general election, all we're doing is giving in to the left and socialism
,” Haley said.
The Trump campaign would like to see Haley quit as soon as possible.
“Republican voters gave President Trump a resounding victory in every primary election and this race is over
,” said Steven Cheung, his spokesman.