Pro-Palestinian demonstrators are dogging President Biden on the campaign trail, stepping on his message and keeping voters focused on the Israel-Hamas war, which is dividing the Democratic Party.
Hecklers at campaign events who call Mr. Biden “Genocide Joe” and a “war criminal” suggest trouble at the ballot box in November if the president doesn’t heed calls to stop Israel’s assault on Gaza.
Mr. Biden has tried to shake the demonstrators, but they are appearing frequently at what are supposed to be friendly venues for highlighting his reelection pitch. Instead, the protesters’ antics are stealing the attention — and headlines — from the president.
Protesters have appeared at high-profile campaign fundraisers and political rallies.
Some of them interrupted Mr. Biden’s speech about the threat of White supremacy last week at a historically Black church in South Carolina, the site of a deadly racist shooting in 2015.
Some even followed him to Nantucket, where he spent Thanksgiving.
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 liberals 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. Both groups went heavily for Mr. Biden in 2020, but their frustration with his unwavering support for Israel could keep them away from the polls in November, potentially handing an election victory to Donald Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner.
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 during 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 whether the president would meet with protesters or whether he 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.”
Mr. Biden was heckled Wednesday as he accepted the United Auto Workers union endorsement at an event in Washington. As he began to speak, protesters chanted “Free Gaza” and waved Palestinian flags. They were escorted out of the room while union workers tried to drown out the demonstration with chants of “UAW.”
It was the fourth interruption of a high-profile event this month.
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 by telling them he understood their passion and has been trying to work with Israel to reduce their offensive in Gaza.
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 was leaving the abortion rights rally on Tuesday, protesters stood on both sides of his motorcade yelling, “Shame on you.”
CodePink took credit for the disruptions in Virginia. The liberal activist group said the protest was necessary to remind Mr. Biden that he was “funding the destruction of reproductive freedom” in Gaza.
CodePink vowed that the disruptions would continue until the president takes action to “end the genocide.”
Mr. Biden is in a tough spot. Polls show most Americans support Israel in its war with Hamas, but Democrats increasingly back Palestinians.
A YouGov/The Economist poll released Thursday found that 50% of those who voted for Mr. Biden in 2020 say Israel is committing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, compared to just 12% who voted for Mr. Trump in 2020.
The same poll found that 51% of Mr. Biden’s 2020 voters say the Israeli government’s invasion of Gaza is “too harsh” and 58% said it will spark a wider war in the Middle East.
Mr. Biden has been steadfast in his support of Israel after the terrorist attack, which killed at least 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals. Hamas 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.
Trying to balance support for Israel with calls for restraint, Mr. Biden has refrained from calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.
That could prove fatal to Mr. Biden’s reelection bid.
In 2020 and 2022, voters younger than 30 made up 21% of the electorate, according to a Harvard University study. Those voters included a mix of millennials and Generation Z, identified as those born after 1996. In the November 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 are in battleground states that could shift the election.
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 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.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.