As of mid-July, two-thirds of Democratic Party voters surveyed by the Associated Press want Joe Biden to withdraw from the Presidential race.Mother Jones; Patrick Semansky/AP, Abed Rahim Khatib/picture-alliance/dpa/AP

In the Democratic primary, the biggest challenge to President Joe Biden was not a single person. It was a movement.

In early 2024, the death toll in Gaza was ticking towards 30,000. Americans watched their newsfeeds fill with videos of Palestinians, often children, suffering in the aftermath of bombings; they saw families begging for help; and they heard the president of the United States say his support for Israel would not waver.

As Biden refused even to utter the word “ceasefire,” voters across the country selected “uncommitted” or “no preference” on their Democratic primary ballots. The movement’s impact was notable, especially in swing states: 13 percent of voters in Michigan, just under 19 percent in Minnesota, and just below 15 percent in North Carolina voted “uncommitted.” In Illinois, a state without an “uncommitted” option on the ballot, voters wrote in “Gaza.”

Before Biden’s disastrous debate performance, the president’s policies on Israel seemed the greatest challenge to his campaign from within the Democratic party. Now, his age might be the thing that ends his candidacy. Per a June 17th Associated Press poll, nearly two-thirds of Democrats want Biden to withdraw.

If Biden were to drop out, it would allow the Democratic party to potentially win back........

© Mother Jones