WASHINGTON (TND) — President Joe Biden is stuck in a difficult political predicament with protests spreading across college campuses that have resulted in hundreds of arrests, dominated headlines and led to multiple graduation ceremonies being canceled as the war between Israel and Hamas rages on.
The protests have grown on campuses around the country as students at some of the most notable schools in the U.S. have set up encampments calling for their schools to divest from Israel.
Biden is also facing backlash from progressives and younger voters over his handling of the war in Gaza. He has remained supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself after the Oct. 7 terrorist attack but offered some sharp criticisms of Israel’s military actions as civilian deaths have mounted. Activists in a handful of states organized protest votes against Biden in Democratic primaries as part of their calls to the White House to bring an end to the war.
Tensions have been building on campuses over the last several weeks as some protests have gotten out of hand. Administrators have increasingly asked law enforcement to help break up the protests and encampments amid pressure from lawmakers and other local leaders to address the problems.
The political pressure has piled up on the Biden administration as it also tries to navigate the path forward with policy toward the Israel-Hamas war. He faces potential issues from both sides, with progressive voters angry about his support for Israel and moderates or Republicans who may cast a ballot for him wanting to act on the protests.
“The worst thing he can do is to pretend it's not happening,” said Chris Devine, an associate professor of political science at the University of Dayton. “He has to say something. But if what he says is bland and noncommittal, then both sides are upset with him for not speaking clearly on the issue, but if he really takes a firm stance, then someone's going to lose out and someone's not going to get the policy that they're asking for. There is no clear answer.”
After a couple weeks of frequent questions about the administration’s handling of the protests, Biden gave rare public remarks on the civil unrest that has broken out on campuses that have been confrontational and sometimes threatening or violent. Biden defended Americans’ right to protest but condemned the more destructive behavior that has been seen on some campuses.
“We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent, the American people are heard. In fact, peaceful protest is in the best tradition of how Americans respond to consequential issues,” Biden said. “But neither are we a lawless country. We are a civil society, law and order must prevail.”
Biden has resisted GOP calls to call in the National Guard to help schools break up encampments or keep the situation under control, but has still said that making threats and destroying property isn’t acceptable either.
“Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations. None of this is a peaceful protest,” Biden said. “Threatening people, intimidating people, instilling fear in people is not peaceful protest. It's against the law.”
Republicans in Congress and former President Donald Trump have framed Biden’s response to the protests as weak and inept or held them up as an example of Biden caving to activist pressure.
Dealing with the protests puts Biden in a precarious spot as he is locked into a tight matchup with Trump, who has frequently turned to a “law-and-order” message when it comes to quelling protests. Biden’s campaign has tried to draw a contrast to America under Biden and Trump, whose presidency came to an end after mass protests following the murder of George Floyd and the Jan. 6 riots after Biden won the election. How well that contrast is being received by voters is an open question as campus protests linger.
There are many unknowns about what issues will be prioritized come Nov. 5, and how the protests develop or fade out of the public spotlight over the next months bring in many variables that polling cannot predict.
“The greatest risk for Biden politically about the college protests is not that people will vote differently because of what they're seeing on their TV screens at this moment or maybe even experiencing in person,” Devine said. “It is that these have laid a foundation for other events that will happen in the fall that are inspired by what people have been seeing in the spring.”
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