WASHINGTON — On the day that former President Donald Trump made his first trip to Wisconsin this campaign cycle, more than 120,000 Republican voters decided not to support him. Instead, they picked candidates like Nikki Haley, who has already dropped out and didn’t endorse Trump.
“One in five Republican voters are still not voting for the presumptive nominee of the party,” said Charles Franklin, a professor of law and public policy at Marquette Law School. “That does show what we've seen in polling all year, that while Trump commands the support of a solid majority of Republicans, he hasn't completely unified the party.”
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment, but the former president thanked Wisconsin several times on social media as results rolled in Tuesday. He still got the support of over 475,000 Wisconsin residents.
There was a similar phenomenon in the Democratic primary. The group Listen to Wisconsin encouraged Democrats to vote uninstructed to protest Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war and push him to call for an immediate, permanent ceasefire. Over 48,000 voted “uninstructed,” double what organizers said they wanted.
“We’ve made our voices heard loud and clear,” said Heba Mohammad, a spokesperson for Listen to Wisconsin. “So if he wants to gain those votes back, it will be up to Joe Biden to do that. And then it’s going to take a nominee, a Democratic nominee, who is pro-peace, anti-war and willing to answer these demands to defeat Donald Trump.”
Ben Wikler, the chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, drew a contrast between those who chose not to vote for Trump or Biden in their party’s primary.
“It’s very different from the Republican voters who cast a ballot for Nikki Haley, even though she suspended her campaign,” Wikler said. “That was really a ‘no way’ to Donald Trump as a candidate, not a policy statement and a call for change in foreign affairs.”
Lauren Hitt, a Biden campaign spokesperson, told Spectrum News in a statement that the President “believes making your voice heard and participating in our democracy is fundamental to who we are as Americans.”
“He shares the goal for an end to the violence and a just, lasting peace in the Middle East,” the statement continues. “He’s working tirelessly to that end.”
Biden did get 35,000 more votes in the Democratic primary than Trump did in the GOP primary, even though more Republicans showed up to the polls. Biden beat Trump by about 20,000 votes in Wisconsin in 2020.
Experts say in a close state like Wisconsin, any faction of the electorate could tip the vote.
“Both major party candidates are going to be spending the next six months trying to pull down that third party vote, trying to push up the turnout, and expecting a close race that could be decided at the margins of 20,000 votes,” Franklin said.
Biden will be in Wisconsin again on Monday to discuss lowering costs for Americans. It’ll be his third trip to the state this year.