Hundreds of thousand of voters across the country marked “Uncommitted” on their Democratic presidential primary ballot as a way of showing their displeasure with the Biden Administration’s policy of supplying weapons to Israel.
Now, a new poll shows that displeasure lingered into the general election and disrupted Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.
The poll was conducted by YouGov and commissioned by the pro-Palestinian Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project. According to the poll, for 29% of people who voted for Joe Biden in 2020, but didn’t vote for Harris in 2024 “ending Israel’s violence in Gaza” was their top issue. The economy was their second.
In Michigan, that number rises to 32%.
Those same voters say they would have been more likely to vote for Harris if she had broke with Biden Administration policy and pledged to end the sale of weapons to Israel.
Earlier this month, Biden pledged an additional $8 billion in weapons and last August sold $20 billion in fighter jets and other munitions to Israel.
Hamas killed over 1,000 Israelis and took dozens of hostages during their October 7, 2023 attack. At least 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, though that is likely a 40% undercount according to a study published in The Lancet.
On the campaign trail, Harris was often at odds with pro-Palestinian/anti-war protesters. At a campaign rally at Detroit Metropolitan Airport she told protesters interrupting her speech: “You know what, if you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking.”
Harris earned 6.7 million fewer votes than Joe Biden in 2020.
Still, even for voters who opted to vote for Harris, over a third of those polled say they would have been more enthusiastic in their support.
Executive Director of the Institute for Middle East Understanding, Margaret DeReus knows that inflation was weighing on voters’ minds as well.
“People care about the cost of groceries, right? We know that,” DeReus said. “But what this poll shows is they also care about their tax dollars being used to kill and starve children overseas.”
The poll was released on the same day Israel and Hamas agreed to a six-week ceasefire.
Though Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be trying to back out of the deal last minute.
DeReus says news of a ceasefire is welcomed.
“But it’s also heartbreaking that this is a deal that looks nearly identical to one that’s been on the table since May,” she said. “It could have been achieved months and months ago if President Biden had used the great leverage that he has to get Israel to accept the deal.”
