Pro-Palestinian protesters are dogging President Biden on the campaign trail, stepping on his message and keeping voters focused on Israel’s war on Hamas that is also ripping apart the Democratic Party.
The heckling of Mr. Biden at big campaign events — calling him “Genocide Joe” and a “war criminal” — also sounds an alarm that trouble is waiting for him at the ballot box in November if he doesn’t heed the left’s calls to stop Israel’s assault on Gaza.
Mr. Biden has tried to shake the demonstrators, but they are appearing frequently at what’s supposed to be friendly venues for highlighting his reelection pitch. Instead, the protesters’ antics are stealing the attention — and headlines —from the president.
The protesters show up nearly everywhere Mr. Biden goes. They’ve appeared at high-profile campaign fundraisers and political rallies.
They interrupted Mr. Biden’s speech about the threat of White supremacy last week at a historically Black church in South Carolina that was the site of a deadly racist shooting in 2015
They even followed him to Nantucket where he spent the Thanksgiving holiday.
As much as Mr. Biden tries, he can’t escape the taunts of “Genocide Joe.”
The stinging slogans and insults underscore Mr. Biden’s struggle to hold together the Democratic base that won him the election in 2020.
Young progressives are more sympathetic to Palestinians and less favorable to Israel than older Democrats.
Young voters and Arab Americans represent a significant portion of the party’s base. While both groups went heavily for Mr. Biden in 2020, their frustration with his unwavering support for Israel could prompt them to sit out the November election, potentially handing victory to former President Donald Trump, the likely GOP presidential nominee.
The White House tried to brush aside concerns about the protesters on Wednesday, a day after Mr. Biden was interrupted at least 14 times by protester chants during his speech in Manassas, Virginia, to promote his top campaign issue of abortion rights.
He was cut off at least five times in the first five minutes of his speech.
“The president respects people’s right to speak out peacefully,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. “The president believes Americans have the right to speak out [and] make their voice heard as long as they do it peacefully.”
Ms. Jean-Pierre would not say if the president would meet with the protesters or if he’s had any direct conversation with them about their views.
A Biden campaign spokesperson declined to comment, but some in the campaign say they weren’t surprised by the interruptions.
Mr. Biden is becoming accustomed to the frequent protests. When the heckling started in Virginia, the president told the crowd, “This is going to go on for a while. They’ve got this planned.”
It was the third interruption this month of a high-profile event.
Earlier this month, the protesters spoiled Mr. Biden’s remarks at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. He was in the middle of honoring the nine parishioners who were gunned down by a White supremacist in 2015 when three protesters began chanting, “Cease-fire now!”
A woman called out: “If you really care about the lives lost here, then you should honor the lives lost and call for a cease-fire in Palestine,”
Mr. Biden tried to appease the protesters telling them he understood their passion and has been trying to work with Israel to reduce their offensive in Gaza.
Just a few days earlier, as Mr. Biden gave a speech near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, protesters stood outside chanting, “Hey hey, ho ho, Genocide Joe has got to go.”
As Mr. Biden sought to leave the pro-abortion rally on Tuesday, protesters stood on both sides of his motorcade, yelling, “Shame on you.”
Liberal activist group CodePink took credit for the disruptions in Virginia, saying it was necessary to remind Mr. Biden that he was “funding the destruction of reproductive freedom” in Gaza.
CodePink vowed that the disruptions will continue until the president takes action to “end the genocide.”
Mr. Biden is in a tough spot. Polls show most Americans back Israel in its war with Hamas but Democrats increasingly back Palestinians.
A Wall Street Journal poll released last month found that 55% of Americans believe Israel is taking the military action needed to defend itself, compared to 25% who said Israel has gone too far in their response to the deadly Oct. 7 terrorist raid by Hamas.
However, young voters and Democratic voters were more likely to side with Palestinians in the war. Nearly 25% of Democrats sympathized more with Palestinians, compared to 17% who sided with Israelis. Just shy of half said they sympathized equally with Israelis and Palestinians.
Mr. Biden has been steadfast in support of Israel after the Oct. 7 terror attacks that killed at least 1,200 Israelis and took another 250 people hostage.
About 100 of the hostages remain in captivity.
Israel pledged to destroy Hamas. The death toll in Gaza has soared past 25,000, according to the Hamas-run government in Gaza, making the war’s deaths, destruction and suffering without precedent in the decades-old Middle East conflict.
Mr. Biden has refrained from calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, trying to balance support for Israel with calls for restraint.
That could prove fatal to Mr. Biden’s reelection bid.
In 2020 and 2022, voters under 30 made up 21% of the electorate according to a Harvard University study. Those voters included a mix of millennials and Gen Z, which are identified as those born after 1996. In the 2024 election, more Gen Z voters will be eligible to vote than ever before.
Arab Americans account for just a fraction of the U.S. population and about half the number of Jewish Americans. But their largest communities reside in battleground states that could shift the election if they don’t back Mr. Biden.
Mr. Biden won Nevada in 2020 over Mr. Trump by just 34,000 votes. The Muslim population in the state is 7,400, and any erosion of support could hurt the president’s reelection chances in the Silver State.
The U.S. Religion Census found that the Muslim population in several swing states exceeded Mr. Biden’s margin of victory in 2020.
Mr. Biden won Georgia by 12,000 votes, and its Muslim population is 123,000. He won by 154,000 votes in Michigan, which has more than 242,000 adherents of Islam. Wisconsin, which he won by 21,000 votes, has 69,000 Muslim residents.