Many Ceasefire Activists Are Still Undecided Voters

After months of protests on the streets and organizing within the Democratic party, Kamala Harris’s campaign has not shown signs it will stray from the Biden administration’s steadfast support for Israel amid its genocidal war in Gaza and invasion into Lebanon. Donald Trump has shown no indication that he would change U.S. backing of the Israeli war machine, and is the personal favorite of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. One of these two candidates will become president.

The Intercept interviewed voters who are horrified by the ongoing U.S. support for Israel’s war, and in many cases have dedicated the past year of their lives to organizing against it in key swing states such as Georgia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Arizona.

ceasefire protest in congressional offices

Photo: Adalah Justice Project

The race remains extremely tight, with the majority of polls showing Harris and Trump at a virtual tie. In the swing states that will decide the election, the candidates are either tied or hold narrow leads. Four years ago, Joe Biden won some key states by as few as 10,000 ballots. Every vote, including those voting with Gaza and Israel’s expanding wars top of mind, matters.

Each voter interviewed for this article has demanded of Biden, and now Harris, an immediate, permanent ceasefire, and an end to the U.S. policy of unconditional military aid to Israel — both of which have been found to be popular among Democrats in swing states and across the U.S. The rejection of such demands have left voters uneasy about their choices.

These voters have their own reasons for deciding how, why, and whether to vote, but they fell into three distinct categories: the anguished undecided, the strategic anti-Trump Harris voters, and the protest voters either going third-party or opting out entirely.