President Joe Biden‘s comprehensive victory in the Kentucky Democratic primary has been slightly overshadowed by the significant amount of votes against the incumbent.
Biden won the primary on Tuesday in the Bluegrass state with 71.3 percent of the vote, which amounted to more than 131,000 ballots.
While the results are a continuation of Biden’s expected domination in the Democratic primary, the nearly 30 percent vote share against the president is among the highest of the primary season so far. The opposing vote included 17.9 percent who backed “uncommitted” in what has previously been considered a protest against Biden’s handling of Israel’s war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.
Biden failing to receive three-quarters of the vote in Kentucky, despite have no other challengers still in the race, is the fifth worst primary result of the 2024 cycle for the president so far. Kentucky has closed presidential primaries, meaning only registered Democrats could vote in the Democratic primary on Tuesday.
MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
The only states where Biden received a smaller share of the 2024 primary votes were New Hampshire (63.8 percent), albeit with longshot candidates Dean Phillips (since withdrawn) and Marianne Williamson who is still in the race; Minnesota (70.1 percent); and West Virginia (70.6 percent).
Biden also lost the American Samoa primary to previously unknown candidate Jason Palmer in a race where just 91 votes were cast in total.
Elsewhere, Biden received 66 percent in the Hawaii caucus, where around 1,500 ballots were cast, as well as 73 percent in the Oklahoma primary during Super Sunday in March, putting the Sooner State just behind Kentucky in terms of worst primary performance.
Biden’s campaign team has been contacted for comment via email.
It is unlikely that the results in the Kentucky primary will have any real affect on the outcome of the general election. Biden lost to Donald Trump in Kentucky by 26 points in 2020 and is not expected to put up a serious challenge to the presumptive Republican nominee in the state this year.
Biden received far fewer “uncommitted” votes on Tuesday than Barack Obama did in 2012, where the then incumbent president saw 42 percent of the votes go against him in the state’s primary, amounting to more than 80,000 votes.
The “uncommitted” vote could still be considered another warning sign that Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza could be hindering his reelection hopes.
In February, more than 100,000 votes were cast for “uncommitted” (13.3 percent) in the key swing state of Michigan, the state which has the largest Arab American population in the country.
However, Michael Pruser, an elections analyst, suggested that many of these “uncommitted” voters in Kentucky intend to vote for Trump in November, but are still registered Democrats.
“Kentucky, by voter registration, is only R+3. There are a large amount registered Democrats who are very MAGA that had some fun today voting against Joe Biden,” Pruser posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“It will be a decade before the voter rolls in KY are properly appropriated by partisan lean.”
Kentucky voted for Democrat Bill Clinton in both the 1992 and 1996 elections. The “uncommitted” vote also received nearly 11 percent of the vote in Kentucky’s 2020 Democratic primary, which Biden won with nearly 68 percent of the vote.
There have been tens of thousands of votes for “uncommitted” or “no preference” in the 2024 Democratic primary in states such as Massachusetts, Colorado, Maryland, and North Carolina.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
