WARREN, Michigan — President Joe Biden on Thursday made a direct appeal to the blue-collar voters who could determine the fate of his reelection bid, casting his campaign as a single-minded crusade to improve the lives of the country's middle class.

In his first 2024 trip to this battleground state, Biden reveled in the United Auto Workers’ recent endorsement of his candidacy, promising members at a local union hall that the White House would remain a staunch ally. He boasted that his policies have helped establish the U.S. as the "strongest economy in the whole damn world." And throughout his swing through this Detroit suburb, Biden made little secret of the fact that he’s counting on organized labor to put him over the top in a state that Democrats view as a must-win come November.

"Supporting you is the easiest thing I've ever done," Biden told a roomful of UAW workers, receiving raucous applause. "You all are the ones that brung me to the dance. And I never left you."

Yet, even as Biden sought to turn the UAW’s backing into an early show of strength among Michigan’s working class, signs all around him reflected that his broader standing within the state remains on shaky ground.

Outside the union hall, dozens of protesters rallied against the White House’s unwavering support for Israel, facing off at times against a line of police in riot gear.

Earlier, in nearby Dearborn, an Arab-majority city west of Detroit, residents criticizing Biden's handling of the Middle East gathered at a local high school to call for a cease-fire. Activists later vowed to expand an "Abandon Biden" effort that's taken root within Michigan's Arab American community.

The hostile backdrop to an otherwise celebratory visit reflected the depth of the fury toward Biden spreading through the state's Arab and Muslim communities. Arab Americans in Michigan voted overwhelmingly for Biden in 2020. Yet many now hold him responsible for........

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