Activists who protested Biden’s handling of the war during Democratic primaries say they will maintain pressure no matter the nominee.

Activists from around the country told The Intercept that they will advocate for an anti-war agenda at the convention in August and withhold their vote in November unless an adequate candidate steps up, listing policy priorities such as support for a permanent ceasefire and standing up to the pro-Israel lobby as it intervenes in Democratic primaries. Even as the Biden campaign insists that he will not step aside, many Democrats appear to be lining up behind Vice President Kamala Harris as an alternative candidate, with some Democratic governors being floated as well.

“My number one criteria for any candidate is opposing the genocide in Gaza,” said Saad Farooq, an uncommitted voter in Massachusetts. Farooq said it was unlikely that the Democratic National Committee would select any candidate who took a stance against Israel’s ongoing war, and that he would support Green Party candidate Jill Stein if she were to appear on the ballot in Massachusetts.

Will Dawson, an uncommitted voter in Washington, D.C., named several factors that could get him to switch his vote from the Green Party’s Stein to another politician. First on his list is a promise to call for an immediate ceasefire and fighting the influence of the pro-Israel lobby and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Congress.

“This candidate would also ideally work toward pulling further away from the Israeli colonial project over time, with the goal being repealing our absurd financial support, ending the foreign interest agency of AIPAC, and pushing for a nation-wide boycott a la [South Africa] during their apartheid,” Dawson wrote.

The candidate would also have to push to reform the Supreme Court, he added. “The candidate would have to promise to both push for justice impeachment, and expand the courts,” Dawson said.“If a replacement candidate met both of these requirements, I would absolutely consider switching my vote from Jill Stein. Hell, I might even knock doors/canvass for them!”

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1913·
    6 months ago

    Do you think it’s easier to convince 10s of millions of voter’s minds?

    Or get Joe Biden to understand that polls show people don’t want him and that the best thing he can do to prevent trump is step aside.

    Seriously.

    • bobburger@fedia.io
      1611·
      6 months ago

      Please provide some evidence to support your claim that the best thing Biden can do to prevent Trump getting elected is to step aside.

      • TrippyFocus@lemmy.ml
        104·
        6 months ago

        The post-debate Data for Progress poll tested the odds of eight Democrats who have been floated as possible alternatives to Biden, including Vice President Kamala Harris and multiple Democratic governors. Biden’s self-proclaimed advantage is tempered by the lack of name recognition — so far — for the other options. Aside from Harris, prospective voters were so unfamiliar with these Democratic leaders that between 39 and 71 percent* *of respondents said they hadn’t heard enough about them to have an opinion. Even so, each potential candidate performed the same or even better than Biden.

        From this article and Link to the poll

        • bobburger@fedia.io
          104·
          6 months ago

          You kind of buried the lede there:

          Overall, these results show that voters continue to be concerned about Biden’s age — but there is not yet clear evidence that an alternative nominee would significantly outperform him against Trump in a head-to-head matchup.

          That’s evidence that some candidates poll similarly to Biden.

          That’s not evidence the best thing Biden can do to stop Trump from becoming president is drop out.

          • TrippyFocus@lemmy.ml
            64·
            6 months ago

            Didn’t really bury it because I don’t agree with that analysis and it’s not part of the poll.

            If they’re polling similar to him with 39%-71% of the people not knowing who the candidate is that means their floor is where Biden is.

            • bobburger@fedia.io
              64·
              6 months ago

              …it’s not part of the poll.

              That quote comes directly from the poll you linked.

              …that means their floor is where Biden is.

              That’s a specious conclusion you’re jumping to because it supports your biases. With out more information it’s more likely that once the respondents know who the candidates are the overall responses will fall in line with the population averages and the candidates polling results will be the same as they are now.

              All we can confidently conclude for now is “39%-71% of people polled don’t know who the candidates in the polls were”.

              • knightly the Sneptaur@pawb.social
                21·
                6 months ago

                It doesn’t come from the poll, it comes from an analysis of the results of the poll.

                Also, if your best candidate is polling at the same level as an unknown, generic member of the same party, then your best candidate is a nobody.

                • TimLovesTech (AuDHD)(he/him)@badatbeing.socialEnglish
                  5·
                  6 months ago

                  Just as a devils advocate when we talk about replacing Biden at this late stage.

                  Since the advent of the modern primary election system in 1972, an incumbent president has never been defeated by a primary challenger, though every president who faced a strong primary challenge went on to be defeated in the general election.

                  Source: Primary challenge

                  Swapping Biden out to find someone that can poll better than a guy who plans to end elections, setup death camps, take away all reproductive rights (abortion, birth control, IVF), as well as rolling back LGBTQ+ rights, shouldn’t even be an issue. Unless you’re part of the cult, it seems like an easy choice between freedom, or the fall of the Republic.

                • bobburger@fedia.io
                  12·
                  6 months ago

                  I was using the same language as the OP when referring to the poll, but if you feel better about yourself now good job.

                  You draw a pretty extreme conclusion about the polling of a generic candidate. Honestly it sounds like another specious conclusion that’s been drawn because it agrees with a bias. I’m open to being wring and am interested in how you came up with it.

                  This CNN article has some pretty interesting discussion about generic candidates. The general consensus seems to be that generic candidates simply indicate a party preference rather than a judgment about a particular candidate.

                  • knightly the Sneptaur@pawb.social
                    31·
                    6 months ago

                    Another specious conclusion?

                    The polls’ own graphics show Trump losing two points to the “undecided” category in head-to-heads with most other candidates after the debate, and most of those alternative Democrats are only polling one point behind Biden.

                    I can understand the DNC being reluctant to switch candidates for a net polling gain of a single percentage point, but the fact that they aren’t fighting tooth and nail for every single vote they can swing is why I’m confident that they’ll be throwing this election just like they did eight years ago.