Nine percent of Montana voters cast “no preference” ballots in the June 4 Democratic and Republican presidential primaries, signaling dissatisfaction with the front-runners for U.S. presidency ahead of a competitive general election.
In the Democratic presidential primary, President Joe Biden was the only candidate, but 9,141 voters, or 9% of the voters, cast “unspecified” ballots. In the Republican primary, 16,381 voters, or 9%, cast “unspecified” ballots, and former President Donald Trump was the only candidate.
Both Biden and Trump handily won their parties' nominations this spring, but polls have shown growing voter dissatisfaction, leading to a rise in protest votes for both candidates during the primaries.
Advocacy group Montana for Palestine claimed a “'no-brainer' campaign victory” last Wednesday following the group's attempt to use the primary to demonstrate voter condemnation of U.S. support for Israel as the war in Gaza continues. In an email, the group denounced the Biden administration and Sen. Jon Tester's support for Israel and called Biden a “shameless genocidalist.”
Andrea Bachmann, an organizer with Montana for Palestine in the Flathead Valley, said she voted unopposed to “send a message that we do not support President Biden's policies that support genocide in Palestine.”
The number of Democratic “unconditional support” votes last week was more than double the number of 2.8% or 4,250 voters who chose “unconditional support” in the 2020 Montana Democratic primary. In 2016, 5,415 voters, or 4.3%, chose “unconditional support.” But in 2012, when former President Barack Obama was the only candidate on the primary ballot, 10% of voters chose “unconditional support,” roughly the same number as in this year's election.
In the 2020 Republican Primary, 6% of Montanans (13,184 voters) voted “Independent.” Independents received 4.7% (7,369 voters) of the vote in 2016 and 3.9% (5,456 voters) in 2012.
According to The Hill, President Biden lost more than 500,000 votes in this primary to “independent” or “non-endorsed” campaigns across the country.
Brendan Work, co-founder of Montana for Palestine, said the movement is “an attempt to show the Biden administration that there are red lines we will not cross and that voters are disgusted by their aiding, supporting and complicity in genocide.”
Democratic Party officials say that if progressives don't participate in the November election, the election will be ” [the pro-Palestinian protest] He said he had “set the Israeli movement back 25 or 30 years” and called himself “the best friend Israel has ever had.”
“For us there is no such thing as a 'lesser evil' genocide,” Work said, adding that he would not vote for Biden in November unless the president called for an “immediate and permanent ceasefire.”
Trump also continues to lose votes, despite Nikki Haley's decision to drop out of the race in March, clearing the field of candidates. Haley won a fifth of the vote in Indiana's Republican primary last month, even though she is no longer in the race. She boasts similar numbers in Maryland, and more than a fifth of voters in Nebraska's Republican primary last month voted for someone other than Trump.
A Pew Research Center poll conducted in April found that half of respondents said they would remove both Biden and Trump from their list of candidates if given the chance.
Montana for Palestine also urged voters to write in “ceasefire” in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, which Jon Tester won handily.
When asked about the “ceasefire” protest vote, a spokesperson for Tester's campaign pointed to the higher number of votes the senator received: Tester received 97% of the vote in the primary (103,341), 9,590 more votes than Biden.
The Secretary of State's Office has not released the number of write-in ballots in the Democratic Senate primary. In Gallatin County, 1% of voters (141 voters) cast a write-in ballot in the Senate election. In Yellowstone County, less than 1% (49 voters) cast a write-in ballot.
A spokesman for Tester declined to specifically ask whether his campaign was interested in courting Montana's progressive voters as the senator faces a tough reelection race. The Montana Democratic Party did not respond to a request for comment.
Pro-Palestinian activists have made Tester a major target in recent months, publicly questioning his Israel policy and disrupting his speeches at fundraisers for Montana Democrat Mansfield Metcalf..
Work said Tester, as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee's Defense Subcommittee, is in a “strong position” to limit or stop arms exports to Israel.
The group has not specifically protested against Republican members of Montana's congressional delegation — Sen. Steve Daines, Rep. Ryan Zinke and Rep. Matt Rosendale — who have voiced staunch support for Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on the country.
Zinke introduced legislation in November that would deport Palestinians who arrive in the United States after September 2023.
Asked about the state's Republican lawmakers, Work again highlighted Tester's role on the defense subcommittee and said progressive voters in Montana are “being disrespected by Democrats.”
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