Pro-Palestinian activists protesting President Joe Biden by voting “uncommitted” in the Michigan Democratic presidential primary are aiming for 10,000 votes on Tuesday, but that figure would pale in comparison to the primary in 2012.
The ballot for Democratic voters in the Great Lakes State on Tuesday will have four options, including Biden, Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), Marianne Williamson, and uncommitted. Activists want to send a message to Biden because of his stance on the war between Israel and Hamas, but it may be more muted than minor dissatisfaction with then-President Barack Obama in 2012.
The organizers who are pushing for uncommitted votes say they want at least 10,000 votes or as much as 15% of the primary vote going to no candidate, according to ABC News.
The Biden campaign appears aware of the risk of a high number of uncommitted voters, with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI), a national co-chair for Biden’s campaign, admitting that it is “possible” there could be 10,000 uncommitted votes. However, she continued to urge Democratic voters to support Biden.
“I think there will be a sizable number of votes for ‘uncommitted,’” Whitmer told NBC News on Monday. “I think that it is every person’s right to make their statement about what’s important to them.”
Whitmer said she believes that an “affirmative vote” for Biden would be better for the Arab, Muslim, Palestinian, and Jewish communities because it would help prevent a second Trump term — which she argues would be worse for all those communities.
If a significant percentage of Democratic voters opt for “uncommitted” on Tuesday, it would continue a trend in the Great Lakes State.
In 2012, Obama won the primary in Michigan overwhelmingly, but “uncommitted” received 20,833 votes (or roughly 10.69%).
In a Public Policy Polling survey released weeks ahead of the primary, Obama held a 52% approval rating in the state, but dissatisfaction with the then-president was evident in primaries in several other states. In states such as Kentucky and Arkansas, Obama would lose 40% of the primary vote, winning narrowly despite not having a major challenger. He would only defeat a federal prisoner in the West Virginia primary by roughly 18 percentage points.
In 2020, despite a one-on-one matchup between Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), along with a long list of other candidates on the ballot, “uncommitted” garnered 19,106 votes for 1.2% of the final total. In 2016, 21,601 voters opted for “uncommitted” in the matchup between Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for 1.79% of the vote.
The highest number of “uncommitted” votes in a Michigan Democratic presidential primary in recent elections came in 2008, when 238,168 voters (or roughly 40%) did not back a candidate.
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The high number of uncommitted voters came due to several high-profile candidates, including Obama, withdrawing from the ballot to obey the Democratic National Committee’s wishes to keep Iowa and New Hampshire as the first deciding contests.
Michigan and Florida attempted to jump ahead of the traditional two primary states, causing the DNC to threaten sanctions against the states and urging candidates not to campaign. Clinton would remain on the ballot and win roughly 54% of the vote in the primary.
