Pro-Gaza and far-left activists dominated the 2024 DNC protests
Published by Good Authority
August 29, 2024
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Protesters at 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Photo courtesy of Michael Heaney.
Protests at the 2024 Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago were larger and less orderly than those at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee. Yet the DNC protests were hardly a revival of the chaos of 1968 – as some politicos had imagined possible.
Mass media coverage of convention protests tend to focus on numbers of protesters, internal party divisions, or concerns about safety. But these protests are also a unique form of participation for many citizens and noncitizens in the critical period before a presidential election.
To examine who participated in the DNC protests and how their participation compares to protests at previous conventions, we collected 257 pen-and-paper survey interviews of randomly selected protest participants in Chicago on Aug. 18 (at Michigan Avenue) and Aug. 19 (at Union Park). These interviews followed the same protocol as previous surveys outside previous Democratic and Republican conventions in 2008, 2016, and 2024, building on our earlier research.
DNC protesters were more issue-focused this year
We asked respondents to tell us what motivated their participation in protests this year. We gave them a list of 13 reasons to choose from and requested that they select up to three of them. The leading reason at this year’s DNC protests was “To express my dissatisfaction with the current U.S. political system” (67%), followed by “To help make the world a better place” (56%), and “To express my views on a particular issue or issues” (48%).
A large number of the protesters we interviewed at the 2024 DNC mentioned the plight of the people of Gaza. Of the respondents who wrote in a specific issue or issues, 82% mentioned Gaza; 17% supported women’s reproductive rights, such as access to abortion; 6% cited LGBTQ issues; 3% condemned police brutality or advocated for racial justice; and 2% called for action on climate change. Other issues were mentioned by a small number of respondents.
Activists’ attention to Gaza corresponded with a more substantial motivation by specific issues than is typical at convention protests. As is indicated in Figure 1 (below), more DNC protesters mentioned specific issues (48%) than had been the case at any of the previous conventions we observed. This percentage was significantly greater than the average percentage of activists motivated by issues at the other five conventions (41%).
The dedication of many activists to the crisis in Gaza and, perhaps to a lesser extent, on the issue of reproductive rights, may have had a narrowing effect on the marches. While many people are passionate about these issues, the causes also carry taboos in certain communities. Individuals with Jewish affiliations or sympathies may not want to associate with a cause that some people view as anti-Israel. In a similar light, people who are religious may wish to avoid connection with support for abortion rights.
Social pressures like these could have pushed some activists outside of the Coalition to March on the DNC. For example, we noticed some supporters of Ukraine (pictured below) demonstrating outside the United Center (where the convention was held). These individuals were not part of the main coalition-led marches, where their message may have been drowned out. This approach may have allowed these protesters visibility without being associated with a cause they may not support.
This year’s DNC protesters were further to the left than at other conventions
Our survey included a question asking people to position themselves on a 9-point ideological scale from “To the ‘left’ of strong liberal” (score = 1) to “To the ‘right’ of strong conservative” (score = 9). Protesters also had the option to say that they could not be placed on the scale, an answer that was not scored. Some respondents gave answers such as “libertarian” or “communist” when opting off the scale.
DNC protesters averaged an ideology of 1.71 on the 9-point scale. This was significantly further left than those who protested the previous month at the RNC (who averaged 2.39). Likewise, it was significantly further left than demonstrators at past DNC or RNC protests, documented below in Figure 2.
A few handfuls of non-left-leaning activists were present at the protests. Most of these people appear to be showing up to oppose the protests, as opposed to challenging the Democrats, per se. They are generally referred to as counterprotesters. For example, a small group of four women beat a drum following the first demonstration to taunt protesters on the issue of abortion. They carried a sign that read “Preborn Justice and Liberation for All” (pictured below). However, these marchers were the exception rather than the rule.
Most protesters did not want to hurt Democrats’ chances this year
One might assume that protests against a party’s convention are intended to reduce the likelihood that the party will succeed in the upcoming election. If this assumption is correct, then it is puzzling why advocates for peace in Gaza or abortion rights would want Democrats to lose in 2024. Wouldn’t Republican victories be more damaging to their causes than Democratic success?
But stopping the Democrats wasn’t what propelled most protesters at the DNC. In asking about their motivations for protest, we gave respondents the option of choosing “To help prevent a candidate from winning this year’s presidential election.” An exceptionally low percentage of respondents – only 2% – selected this option. This year’s DNC protesters, for the most part, were not out to prevent Kamala Harris from becoming the next president.
Figure 3 reveals that protesters at the 2024 DNC were significantly less interested in damaging a presidential campaign than was the case for any of the other five conventions that we observed. Between 17% to 21% of protesters outside Republican conventions said they aimed to diminish a specific candidate’s chances.. Anti-candidate motivations were especially common (27%) at the Democratic convention in 2016. That’s when partisans of Bernie Sanders aspired to prevent the Democrats from nominating Hillary Clinton to the ticket. The candidacy of Barack Obama in 2008 was a target of only 7% of DNC protesters that year, somewhat more than was the case for Harris.
Not only did many protesters not aspire to stop the Democrats, many of them said that they plan to vote for Kamala Harris. Approximately 35% of DNC protesters intended to vote for Harris, which was significantly more than the 15% who supported Clinton in 2016, but significantly less than the 54% who backed Obama in 2008. Most of the rest said that they would cast their ballots for a third party, that they would not or could not vote, or that they were still undecided. Not many votes for Trump are expected from this crowd outside the DNC.
What might the protesters have accomplished?
If the 2024 DNC protests did not disrupt the convention, and if most of the protesters didn’t even want that, then what might they have accomplished? Some protesters may have hoped to make party leaders recognize the potential costs to their support for Israel – or galvanize them to do more to protect reproductive freedom. In fact, Democratic party officials may not be the primary audience for many of the protesters. They may be speaking via traditional and social media to sympathetic networks in the broader public. Party conventions every four years offer a high-profile venue – and a large audience.
Selin Bengi Gümrükcü is a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Political Science at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
Michael T. Heaney is a lecturer in politics and research methods at the University of Glasgow in Scotland.
Eric S. Heberlig is a professor of political science and public administration at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.