Super Tuesday In MA: 'No Preference' Campaign Takes Aim At Biden

Following a high "uncommitted" vote in Michigan, activists want Massachusetts voters to send Joe Biden the same message on Super Tuesday.

https://patch.com/massachusetts/across-ma/super-tuesday-ma-no-preference-campaign-takes-aim-biden

MASSACHUSETTS — President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump will be the likely victors in the Democratic and Republican primaries in Massachusetts in Super Tuesday.

But a third option that's not even a physical candidate may have a strong showing on Super Tuesday — if a protest vote campaign has its way.

A coalition of elected officials and political groups want Democratic voters to choose "no preference" on Super Tuesday as part of a protest to push Biden to broker a ceasefire in Gaza, where more than 30,000 civilians have been killed during an Israeli bombardment targeting Hamas.

More than 100,000 voters in Michigan last week voted "uncommitted," earning two delegates. Biden won the state, which boasts one of the largest Arab-American populations in the U.S., with more than 600,000 votes. The Vote No Preference Massachusetts campaign wants at least the same number to vote "no preference" on Super Tuesday.

"Biden and the Democrats have been taking our votes for granted for too long," coalition member Humayun Morshed said in a news release. "For four months, our elected officials have been sending our tax dollars to kill adults and children without our consent. We’ve been out in the street demonstrating for months, calling our representatives, and they barely answer the phones now. They have left us with no choice."

The coalition includes Somerville City Councilor Willie Burnley Jr., and members of groups like Massachusetts Peace Action, Massachusetts Muslims for Justice, Progressive Democrats of America, Massachusetts Healthcare Workers for Palestine and Arlington for Palestine.

Biden has been popular in Massachusetts, earning more than 470,000 votes in the 2020 presidential primary, beating U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren in that race by 170,000 votes.

But in a February Suffolk University poll of 1,000 Massachusetts voters, about 35 percent approved of the job Biden is doing, while 32 percent strongly disapproved. On Palestine, more than 35 percent of voters said they sympathized more with Israelis, 20 percent with Palestinians and 17 percent undecided.

There's another potential siphon for Biden votes in Massachusetts. With a Biden win assured, Massachusetts residents who typically vote Democrat might pull Republican ballots on Super Tuesday to vote for Nikki Haley, the last remaining Republican challenging Donald Trump. Haley made a campaign stop in Needham on Saturday alongside former governor (and 2020 presidential candidate) William Weld.

Massachusetts is one of six Super Tuesday states (and American Samoa) where voters can choose an uncommitted preference in the Democratic primary. Voters who choose a Democratic ballot on Tuesday will also see candidates U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) and Marianne Williamson, who also ran in 2020. Williamson suspended her campaign in early February, but jumped back in following the "uncommitted" showing in the Michigan primary.