President Biden lost more than half a million voters to the “uncommitted” movement in this year’s Democratic primaries, an effort that garnered 30 delegates in five states and underscored the frustration in within his own party regarding his management of the war between Israel and Hamas.
As this week marks the final Democratic primaries in US states for the 2024 election year, the Uncommit movement received 10% of the vote in New Mexico and 9% in New Jersey, one of several states to large Arab-American population.
These states are lagging behind in, for example, Michigan, where more than 101,000 voters voted against Biden earlier this year, and Minnesota, whose 45,000 votes earned the movement 11 delegates, the most of any state. States.
The protest vote shows Biden faces the increasingly difficult task of bringing back those voters before it’s too late, something Democrats say the campaign should take seriously.
“Of course they should be worried,” a former Biden campaign aide said. “If they do not intend to vote for [Biden], they have already been disappointed. Donald Trump is a disruptor and an agent of change, so he could be an interesting alternative for some of these people.”
Polls show Biden and his political rival, former President Trump, running neck and neck, including in key states like Michigan — although several polls show Trump running just ahead of Biden.
Trump attracted only a fraction of the Arab American voters that Biden did in 2020, but the move could mean that many of those same voters may simply not participate in elections this year.
The Abandon Biden movement, which is behind much of the protest voting efforts, declared Thursday “the conclusion of the primary season and our relentless march toward the general election.”
“Our mission is clear: Joe Biden must be defeated,” the group said in a statement. “We will not stand idly by. We are mobilized, we are furious, and we are determined to ensure Joe Biden’s defeat in the general election. The time for accountability has arrived. »
Since the protest vote was launched, Biden has proposed a ceasefire deal that, for the first time, would lead to a lasting end to the war in Gaza – but that has done little to appease some of those behind the origin of the protest effort. against the Democratic president.
While those angered by Biden’s handling of the war told The Hill in November that the president could still work to earn their vote, the rhetoric of Ditch Biden turned into a flat-out refusal to vote for the presumptive Democratic nominee in November.
The movement said Thursday that “Biden’s speeches are nothing more than diplomatic theater, a grotesque display of denial of responsibility as the massacre rages” and that “Israel’s death machine is fueled by Biden’s policies.”
Trump, for his part, called Biden “weak” on Israel and has vowed to “repair its damage” if re-elected, although he remains short on details…
