'Jarring enthusiasm gap' between the Democratic and Republican primaries

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If Michigan's primary election results are any indication of how things are going to play out this November, there will be plenty of surprise to go around.

While President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump won the Michigan primaries on Tuesday as predicted, the election revealed "a jarring enthusiasm gap between the Democratic and Republican primaries" that was unexpected, according to a report by Axios.

Election results provided by the Associated Press show nearly 40% more people voted in the Republican primary (1,113,738) than in the Democratic contest (767,836).

The results also show that Trump, who defeated former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley 68% to 27%, singlehandedly got about the same number of GOP votes (758,623) as the total number of votes cast in the Democratic primary.

While more Republicans turned out for the vote, Axois reported "it wasn't all good news for Trump," noting that the surge was driven in part by Haley supporters.

"Haley's level of support suggests that many of her backers may stay home in November — or even vote for Biden, if Trump is on the ballot," per Axios.

Meanwhile, Biden received 81% of Democratic votes (623,073). An activist-led effort to have voters cast protest ballots for "uncommitted" instead of Biden, primarily over of his approach to the Israel-Hamas war, resulted in 101,394 ballots for 13% of the vote -- enough to earn two delegates in the nominating race.

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Pollster Richard Czuba told the AP that the uncommitted result is a concern for Biden but not a "death note" for his chances in winning the state in November.

Michigan was the last major primary before Super Tuesday on March 5, when 15 states hold elections. Based on results so far, Biden and Trump appear to be marching toward a likely rematch in November. Last time around in 2020, Biden defeated Trump in Michigan 50.62% to 47.84%.

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