Wisconsin’s ‘uninstructed’ voters represent a nationwide problem for Biden

In April, more than 48,000 Democratic voters in Wisconsin made it out to the ballot box in the freezing rain, sleet and snow to tell President Biden to end his support for Israel’s war in Gaza. They voted “uninstructed” to call for a permanent and immediate cease-fire and serious steps toward peace — including ending or restricting military aid to Israel.

Two months after the April Democratic primary, a statewide poll has found that more than half of potential Biden voters support this “uninstructed” anti-war primary effort.  

While this issue has galvanized our communities across the state, it is not the only issue on which key constituencies in Wisconsin have felt deep betrayal. The uninstructed votes on Gaza in Wisconsin are an escalation and a bellwether of a broader misalignment between this administration and the progressive, minority and young voters that secured his victory in 2020.

It would be a dangerous mistake for any political strategists and leaders in the Democratic party to overlook the significance of these voters in Wisconsin. As three grassroots leaders and organizers in Wisconsin representing Black, Latino, Muslim and other immigrant or minority groups, we know our people need to see serious policy change before they will back Biden in November. 

As goes Wisconsin, so goes the presidency — and the margins are razor thin. Biden won our state by just 20,682 votes in 2020. In 2012, 2016 and 2020, the last precincts watched with trepidation to find out who would be president were in Milwaukee, where more than 13,000 people voted "uninstructed" in this primary. 

Palestine is a tipping point in a much longer path of policy failures left unaddressed for our communities. When Biden was elected in 2020, Black communities in Wisconsin overwhelmingly bolstered his campaign. But many feel the Biden administration has done little for them — on police brutality, on flush police and prison budgets, on student debt that burdens our communities more than others, on commuting marijuana sentences that have disproportionately criminalized us, on raising the federal minimum wage for all, and on moving beyond symbolic measures such as federally acknowledging Juneteenth or Arab American Heritage Month. 

As someone who formerly championed the 1994 crime laws that have deeply harmed our communities through mass incarceration, Biden has not made up for his track record on racial justice, despite creating diverse personnel in appointments of government staff. While we want to see in Biden an alternative to Trump, this White House has failed to deliver on that for the communities we keep turning out to vote — with increasing resistance. 

Biden has also broken promises to the Latino immigrant community and immigrant communities more broadly. Not only has he failed to absorb 2 million asylum seekers as promised, he has also continued the Trump legacy of vilifying immigrants with ICE’s 287(g) programs, which deputize local law enforcement. The Biden administration has maintained this structurally problematic approach that endangers, alienates and victimizes our communities for something as simple as a traffic infraction. 

While most Americans support better pathways to citizenship for immigrants, Biden’s backlog of immigrants in legal limbo hit 8 million last year. Biden can and must use executive action to end the 287(g) program and provide work permits to immigrants and those who come to the country seeking asylum. Without that kind of action, it is impossible to ensure basic safety and rights for immigrant communities. 

Whether Latino, Arab or Muslim, our communities are collectively harmed by these policies and deeply understand the plight of those displaced by war and occupation in Gaza.

As communities that have been collectively victimized by state-sanctioned violence or displacement from war and gentrification alike, we are in deep and natural solidarity with Palestinians against their slaughter in Gaza and their vilification here in the United States as part of a broader fight against white supremacy, imperialism and racial capitalism.

Our communities fundamentally believe that no matter what you look like, where you come from or what you believe, all of us deserve safety, freedom and dignity. 

When we showed our communities the option to vote uninstructed to be heard in their protest of U.S. complicity in the war in Gaza and call for humanitarian aid for people our government is helping to starve and displace, they showed up far beyond our expectations for a two-week campaign. That energy has not gone away as we saw with the recent passage of a cease-fire and aid resolution in the state Democratic party platform.

Our voters’ demands are clear: End the war by imposing a permanent cease-fire in Gaza now, end military funding to Israel’s far right-wing government, end the siege that continues to cripple any chances of peace and ensure the full entry of humanitarian aid with funding to UNRWA. 

Over 30 percent of Biden’s potential voters — Democrats and independents — see these policies as the minimum needed to secure their votes. Our communities are watching the policies of this administration closely and are tired of being betrayed on basic principles of morality that cut across all of our communities’ interests.

Close to 50,000 votes for “uninstructed” in a state that looks like the country, Wisconsin, continues to bear a clear message to the White House: Change course now in Gaza and on key issues for our communities to preserve democracy in November — and the fundamental values of the Democratic party. 

No media spin can bring back the legitimacy of this party to our voter base, only a change in policy can do that. It’s time to listen to Wisconsin.

Angela Lang is the executive director of Black Leaders Organizing Communities. Christine Neumann-Ortiz is executive director of Voces de la Frontera Action. Reema Ahmad is an organizer with Listen to Wisconsin.