'Uncommitted' voters in Minnesota show up in shocking numbers

MINNEAPOLIS — President Joe Biden secured a swift victory in a majority of Super Tuesday contests − but a significant protest vote in Minnesota and six other states over his support of the Israel-Hamas war is a growing liability for his reelection bid.

In Minnesota, the state with the highest showing of uncommitted votes of any Super Tuesday state, it earned almost 20% of the statewide vote, over twice as much as Minnesota’s own Congressman Dean Phillips, and garnered 11 delegates.

Since the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 touched off a 5-month war, once-supporters of Biden's have grown resentful of the president's support to Israel as the death toll in the Gaza Strip multiplies daily. Michigan saw the first spike in support for the 'uncommitted' option, yet Minnesota, with a significantly smaller Arab American population, garnered massive support across the state. The highest percentage of votes were concentrated in the Twin Cities reaching almost a quarter of the votes in Hennepin and Ramsey County.

Coverage of the 'uncommitted' initiative has centered largely around the sentiments of Michigan's Arab and Muslim American population, which is one of the largest in the nation. But some observers thought Super Tuesday's Democratic primaries could provide an initial gauge of how deep discontent runs among other historically loyal Democratic voting blocs outside of Muslim and Arab Americans.

More: Super Tuesday results: How did 'uncommitted' perform on ballots across the country?

More: US airdropped aid into Gaza; groups blame Israel for deadly food line clash: Updates

Since October, Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry reported over 30,000 Palestinians have been killed. The Israeli government recorded 1,200 people were slaughtered in the October attack by the militant group Hamas.

Almost 46,000 Minnesotans voted to stand up via vote for a cease-fire in Gaza. Here are some of their stories.

A message to the Democratic party

Omar Aly didn’t vote for Biden in 2020, and he told USA Today he won’t be voting for him in 2024 either.

The University of Minnesota senior said choosing between former President Donald Trump and Biden isn't an option when the options are between a “liar or a hypocrite”. Both, he said, would continue to aid Israel, and in turn, ignore the cries of the Palestinian people.

Aly, who was born in Egypt, identifies as a moderate Democrat who has never supported Biden and said that the 81-year-old has a history of harming communities of color. He pointed to the former senator’s time in Congress when he led the charge on a controversial 1994 crime bill that led to mass incarceration, and early in his senate career, his stance against forced desegregation in the 70s.

More: Gen Z is marked by Gaza. For Boomers it was Vietnam. Will it shape Super Tuesday and beyond?

The violence in Gaza is not a faraway horror for the 21-year-old. Aly belongs to the university’s Arab Student Association and Students for Justice in Palestine and has had to watch his fellow students and friends lose family members in airstrikes.

“All of a sudden, you wake up and none of your family, not your cousins, not your second cousins exist,” he said. “Your last name doesn’t exist anymore.”

Aly said that Gen Z is far too used to living in times of violence, having access to images of starving and wounded civilians in the middle of the conflict with the refresh of a page. He recalled the murder of George Floyd, the Black man killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis caught on video that set off a massive wave of social justice protests in 2020. The video that shocked the world was filmed just miles from Aly’s campus.

“If you read the headline, ‘An African American man got killed by a cop as he was getting detained’, you’d skip over the headline,” he said. “But we saw that seven-minute video of what happened. I think when you read it, it is one thing, but when you see it, it’s a whole different thing.”

Aly said voting ‘uncommitted’ on Tuesday was his way of protesting the establishment: “It sends a message to the Democratic Party, saying, 'watch what you’re doing'.”

Aly said he is exploring third-party candidates for his vote in November.

A scare tactic in March, a vote in November

Edmund Pine has his mind made up for Biden in November. But on Super Tuesday, Pine told USA Today he used his vote to scare the president.

"I'm lukewarm about the presidency," he said. "Not as feeling as good after the Palestinian Gaza conflict."

The Minneapolis lawyer said he is a fan of Biden's labor policies and for federal protections of Minnesota's boundary waters but doesn't think these underrated achievements will do much good for him unless he calls for a ceasefire and halts funding to Israel's attack on Gaza.

Pine said his goal for March 2024 was to send a message. He said his goal for November 2024 was to keep Trump out of the White House.

The 28-year-old Texas-native is "terrified" that other 'uncommitted' voters will skip the polls in November, and despite his lack of strong hope for the "status quo" Democratic candidate, he said Biden can count on his vote.

"I feel probably more strongly that Donald Trump would be catastrophic," Pine said.

'Advocating for a pause of genocide is advocating for genocide'

Just days before Super Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, marking the Biden administrations strongest appeal for peace so far. Molly Hale of St. Paul told USA Today that was very "convenient" political timing.

"Advocating for a pause to genocide is advocating for genocide," she said. "You're still supporting it, its' really disgusting, it's pitiful."

The mother of six said she has used the last few months to educate herself on the hundreds of years of history of the Israel-Palestinian conflict and the role the U.S. has played in enabling Israeli occupation of the West Bank.

To Hale, Biden's aid to Israel's retaliatory war in Gaza and the suffering of civilians puts the blame on the U.S.

"We paid for that, we endorsed that, we are the bad guys," she said.

When it comes to voting in November, the 31-year-old isn't too sure her disaffection for Biden matters.

"I do feel like we're in a place of privilege," Hale said. "We're in a mostly blue state, I don't think it's going to come down to my vote or even a couple thousand votes."

Minnesota has voted for a Democratic president every election since 1976 and Biden won the state in 2020 by over a seven-point margin.

Hale hasn't made up her mind whether or not she'll vote for Biden. The barista said the least the president can do to is put limits and conditions to aid on Israel, but that won't change the lives that have been lost due to, she said, American support of the country.

"It's the smallest thing we could do, to check a little box," Hale said. "I hope that we see a free Palestine in our lifetime."

— Sam Woodward is the Minnesota elections reporting fellow for USA Today. You can reach her at swoodward@gannett.com, on X @woodyreports, and on Threads @samjowoody.

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Shocking number of 'uncommitted' protest votes in Minnesota