2 — Monday, April 20, 2020
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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during 
the fall and winter terms by students at the University OF Michigan. One copy is 
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DOMINICK SOKOTOFF/Daily

The Bell Tower in Ingalls Mall was lit up red, white and blue to show support the first responders and essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic 
last Friday evening.
With Sanders out, students 
hesitate to support Joe Biden

Progressive organizations on campus uncertain whether to back 
moderate candidate after liberal senator suspends his campaign

When 
Vermont 
Sen. 
Bernie 

Sanders, I-Vt., ended his presidential 

campaign earlier this month, former 

Vice President Joe Biden became the 

presumptive 
Democratic 
nominee. 

Sanders, a longtime liberal firebrand, 

subsequently endorsed Biden, who 

had pitched himself as the moderate 

and reliable option throughout the 

primary. With the field of Democratic 

candidates narrowed down to one, 

some 
progressive 
students 
aren’t 

thrilled with the choice before them.

On college campuses across the 

country, student groups formed to 

support 
Sanders 
expressed 
their 

discontent on social media, refusing to 

endorse Biden. 

In interviews with The Daily, various 

University of Michigan students said 

they were disappointed and unsure 

whether to back Biden in the general 

election come November.

LSA junior Arden Shapiro, campus 

corps leader for Students for Bernie, 

said Sanders’s decision to exit the 

race 
was 
disheartening 
but 
said 

she understood why he ended the 

campaign.

“Honestly, it did come as kind of a 

surprise and it was a bit disappointing,” 

Shapiro said. “However, I trust that he 

made the best decision for himself and 

his constituents and his movement, 

given the current circumstances we’re 

in and his desire to defeat (President) 

Donald Trump in the general election.” 

The official account for Students 

for Bernie at UMich tweeted they are 

not endorsing or supporting Biden, 

breaking with Sanders himself. 

In an April 8 video announcing the 

end of his presidential bid, Sanders 

emphasized the importance of getting 

Biden elected and beating Trump in the 

general election.

“Then together, standing united, 

we will go forward to defeat Donald 

Trump, the most dangerous president 

in modern American history,” Sanders 

said. “As I hope all of you know, this 

race has never been about me.” 

Shapiro commented on the tweet, 

explaining they do not believe Biden’s 

policies are progressive enough to earn 

their endorsement. 

“Even 
though 
Senator 
Sanders 

himself 
did 
endorse 
the 
former 

vice 
president, 
speaking 
as 
kind 

of 
a 
leadership 
cohort 
together 

and reflecting on the values of our 

organization and our goals, we decided 

that at this time, it would not be possible 

for us to endorse Joe Biden,” Shapiro 

said. “We do not believe his platform 

adequately addresses the issues that 

this country is currently facing and will 

certainly be facing in the future in light 

of the current economic depression. We 

don’t believe that his stance on climate 

appreciates the dire reality of climate 

change that we will be experiencing 

within the next decade.”

Not all students were jarred by 

Sanders’s decision. Engineering junior 

Omar Al-Ejel supported Sanders in the 

primary and said he was not surprised 

when the campaign ended. Al-Ejel said 

Biden benefited institutional support 

as he continued winning primary 

delegates, 
primarily 
among 
the 

Democratic National Committee and 

fellow presidential challengers former 

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg 

and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., 

both of whom endorsed Biden after 

suspending their own campaigns.

“I wasn’t surprised at that point 

since I knew what was coming after 

the whole media and DNC pile-on 

against Bernie started to manifest in 

Biden shooting up in the polls and him 

winning states,” Al-Ejel said. 

LSA sophomore Eman Naga was 

also a Sanders supporter. She said she 

wasn’t surprised either.

“I expected it, but that didn’t 

make it hurt any less,” Naga said. “I 

think I internally placed too great an 

emphasis on electoral politics and 

viewed Sanders as a political savior 

which wasn’t fair, but his campaign 

undoubtedly paved the path forward 

and it’s up to his supporters to walk it.” 

In an interview with The Daily prior 

to a rally on The Diag on March 8, 

Sanders emphasized the success of his 

campaign in shaping the Democratic 

Party’s ideology through grassroots 

organizing. He also addressed the 

difficulty of getting younger voters to 

show up at the polls.

“Younger people are in fact the 

most progressive young generation 

in the history of this country, that’s 

your generation,” Sander said. “The 

problem is that it has historically been 

very hard to get young people to vote 

in large numbers. We’re making some 

progress.”

Drumming 
up 
support 
among 

young voters was key to Sanders’s 

electoral strategy, which ultimately 

fell flat when Biden won the Michigan 

primary, a state that was integral to 

Sanders’s campaign in 2016. 

In the March interview, Sanders 

emphasized the importance of students 

participating in electoral politics.

“That’s why we’re here on the 

campus, that’s why we visit many 

campuses: to make it clear to young 

people that in a democracy they have 

an obligation to participate, that it’s 

not good enough to moan and groan 

about all the concerns you have, you’ve 

got to get involved and stand up for 

what you believe in, and that means 

participating in the political progress,” 

Sanders said.

Despite efforts from the Sanders 

camp 
to 
increase 
voter 
turnout 

among students, Biden swept every 

county in the state, including left-

leaning Washtenaw, the home of the 

University’s flagship campus and the 

site of a get-out-the-vote rally with 

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 

D-N.Y., that drew more than 10,000 

attendees. 

Shapiro said that, though Students 

for Bernie are not endorsing Biden, 

they understand many Democrats feel 

that Sanders supporters should vote 

for Biden in hopes of beating Trump. 

EMMA RUBERG
Daily Staff Reporter

