WASHINGTON — Speaking to the nation Thursday night in his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden confronted Israel on Gaza aid, saying that it could not be used as a bargaining chip. For thousands of voters across the country, Israel’s war in Gaza has become a sticking point with the sitting president.
This week thousands of Democratic primary voters, unsure with Biden’s leadership, ticked the “uncommitted” or “no preference” option in campaigns ranging from North Carolina to Minnesota. The campaigns have produced unprecedented numbers of uncommitted voters in this election cycle, many in protest of Biden’s support for Israel’s war.
Starting in Michigan, over 101,000 residents, or 13% of the voters, cast uncommitted votes in the Democratic primary at the end of February. On Super Tuesday, 19% of Minnesota Democrats, or nearly 46,000, voted uncommitted, winning 11 out of 75 delegates attending the Democratic National Convention in August. Biden snagged 64 delegates.
“We only had a week and the smallest amount of funding at Uncommitted Minnesota,” organizer Asma Nizami wrote on X. “But we showed up for Gaza.” The number of votes — over 45,000 in Minnesota and 101,000 in Michigan — signal that the movement has spread beyond Arab and Muslim Americans to the likes of younger and progressive voters, perhaps thanks to high turnout in regions with a larger proportion of voters aged 18 to 29, such as Ann Arbor, where the University of Michigan is located.
