Over the summer, more than 40,000 people in New Jersey voted “no strings attached” in the Democratic presidential primary election. reflecting a then growing unrest, stimulated by the Biden administration’s handling of the war in Gaza.

Left-wing students and professors who continued their protest votes in the general election, however, told the Daily Princetonian that the choice to refuse to support the Harris campaign was not motivated by the war in Gaza alone — notably by labor , climate change and great disillusionment with the Harris campaign and the Democratic Party.

Despite this, the Green Party candidate Jill Stein did not prove to be a very attractive alternative.

Huws Landsberger GS, a New Jersey resident, voted for Jill Stein, citing problems with what he called the Democratic Party’s “incrementalism.”

“I believe the party is primarily beholden to the interests of Wall Street and the military-industrial complex, with which I strongly disagree,” he said.

Although the war in Gaza factored into Landsberger’s decision, he said he was motivated by a broader anti-war belief.

“We start a lot of wars, and the Democrats are just as bad as the Republicans at it,” he said. “I can’t stand this.”

Landsberger added that he didn’t know anyone else who voted for Stein.

Bryce Springfield ’25, union coordinator and former president of the Young Democratic Socialists of America in Princeton, also voted for Jill Stein.

“I think this election has given us a unique opportunity to leverage the ongoing mass movement for Palestinian liberation to put pressure on the Harris campaign,” he said.

Springfield, which voted in Florida, where Stein received 0.4 percent of the vote, radius during the Resistencia en Action New Jersey rally for migrant rights on November 6.

“We cannot expect either party to protect migrants when we have seen with our own eyes the brutal crackdown taking place in Princeton under Democratic administrations at all levels of government,” he declared.

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In contrast, Nipuna Ginige, 26, a member of Students for Justice in Palestine, reluctantly voted for Harris in Arizona. He highlighted a number of problems with the Democratic Party, including its positions on climate change, human rights and “the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”

“It’s this common belief that we don’t have any sort of real confidence in Kamala Harris, in the Democratic Party and, honestly, by extension, in the entire system,” he said. “But as activists, we’re going to continue to fight for many things…and under a Harris presidency, it’s easier to do that work.”

History professor Vera Candiani didn’t vote for anyone.

“If there had been a Labor Party based on the trade unions… run essentially by the working class of this country and completely independent of the Democrats and Republicans – that is, the parties of capitalism, then I would have voted for them. ” she said.

Third-party voters with whom the “Prince” spoke expressed no regret following Donald Trump’s victory.

“I think ultimately what (Trump’s victory) shows is that the Democratic Party…has not come up with any tangible plan for working people,” Landsberger said regarding why Harris lost. “So I think these types of policies that they’re proposing are just not something that I want to support.”

Candiani said young people should move toward “forming organizations that are not election-oriented” with two goals: self-defense of “communities that are going to be attacked” and providing avenues for change.

Springfield agreed, saying “the vote is probably near the bottom in terms of the most effective ways to engage in politics.”

Candiani too radius during the gathering of November 6 and November 8 to go out on Firestone Square. At both events, she denounced the Republican and Democratic parties, calling the Democratic Party “genocidal and imperialist” on November 6.

“The Democratic Party does not stand with the working class. He did not support the immigrant rights movement. He did not enshrine the right to abortion in federal law,” she said on November 8.

In Mercer County, 65.5 percent of voters voted for Kamala Harris this election, 3.6 percentage points lower than in 2020. Only 1 percent voted for the Green Party ticket.

Ben Goldston is a News contributor for the “Prince.”

Miriam Waldvogel is deputy news editor and investigations editor for “The Prince.” She is originally from Stockton, California, and often covers campus activism and academic accountability.

Please send any corrections to corrections(at)dailyprincetonian.com.