The “disengaged” movement to pressure US President Joe Biden to change his policy towards Israel is now heading to Minnesota, where activists hope a coalition of progressive Democrats and Muslim-Americans will fuel a strong protest vote on the so-called Super Tuesday.
Minnesota is not a crucial state for the November elections, given the Democrats’ historic local strength. Any “no commitment” vote will not have the same impact as last week’s unexpectedly large protest in Michigan, which won two delegates to the Democratic National Convention in August.
However, the vote is being closely monitored to gauge Biden’s strength within his own party.
“There will be another protest vote against Biden with the goal of stopping the war,” said Jaylani Hussein, co-president of the Ditch Biden movement in Minnesota, one of many groups encouraging voting with phone calls, text messages and events in mosque. community centers.
Hussein estimates the Midwestern state has about 250,000 Muslims. He said the Minnesota operation seeks to reach at least 10,000 “uncommitted” votes, but the numbers could end up being higher.
The “uncommitted” movement calls on Biden to support a permanent ceasefire and suspend aid to Israel. Biden’s strong support for Israel from the beginning and his refusal to condition military aid on ensuring that there are no deaths of innocent people or destruction of infrastructure has generated outrage among key parts of his coalition, which could influence his re-election chances against likely Republican opponent, Donald Trump.
Biden, 81, faces low overall approval ratings and concerns about his age, as does Trump, 77. If Trump is re-elected, he is expected to be a strong supporter of Israel and right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The results from Michigan, where Biden took 81% of the vote, show that “his core supporters are still with him,” said a Biden campaign official, who expects to see the same results in Minnesota .
“None of this means we will ignore the Arab-American and Muslim-American population,” the official said. “We won’t. We don’t take anyone’s vote for granted.”
The sharpest American comment on the war to date came from Vice President Kamala Harris, who on Sunday called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept a deal to release the hostages in exchange for a six-week cessation of hostilities .
Even with the protest vote, Biden is expected to win the Democratic primaries in Minnesota and more than a dozen other states on March 5, the so-called Super Tuesday, and secure the Democratic Party’s nomination in the coming weeks.
“COMPARE IT WITH THE ALTERNATIVE”
The Biden campaign and many Democratic Party officials believe that ultimately disaffected Democrats will support Biden in November when faced with the prospect of Trump.
Overall, 61% of Democrats support Biden’s handling of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, according to a Harvard-Harris poll in February, although a Reuters/Ipsos poll the same month showed that 56% of Democrats prefer a president who do not support the armed forces. aid to Israel.
Ken Martin, chairman of the Minnesota chapter of the Democratic Party, formally known as the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), told reporters that “this is an existential election” and he expects Biden to have near-unanimous support in the state .
“I respect people’s feelings and differences of opinion on a number of issues. But as Joe Biden says, don’t ‘compare to the Almighty, compare to the alternative,’ and I think that’s the reality here,” Martin said.
Source: Terra
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