Democrats punish Biden for refusing to let Hamas continue its Holocaust
Tiana Lowe Doescher
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For perhaps the first time in his presidency, Joe Biden has met the moment in a key situation. He did so in a way that has required the White House to excoriate the antisemitism festering on the far-left flank of the Democratic Party and to stand up to execrable activists who have otherwise applauded the administration’s progressive domestic policies.
Unlike the mealy-mouthed appeasement of his former boss Barack Obama, Biden has spoken with moral clarity, branding Israel’s self-defense from Hamas terrorists not just a begrudging right but the nation’s duty, and the White House has been uncompromising in its early activation of military support for the sole democracy in the Middle East.
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And Biden is paying dearly for his solid stance on principle.
Biden’s approval rating has fallen from 41% to 37%, a record low in his presidency, according to the latest polling from Gallup. This is not because of support from Republicans, which has actually risen from its summertime nadir. Rather, Biden’s support among Democrats tumbled by double digits in just one month to 75%. That’s down from the 86% average support he has garnered from his party throughout his presidency.
As the Washington Examiner detailed last week, it is not as though Biden’s stalwart support for Israel is widely derided within the Democratic electorate. A CBS-YouGov poll found that more than 3 in 5 Democrats said Biden’s statements and actions have reflected the right amount of support for Israel, with only a quarter saying the president is expressing too much support. A Quinnipiac University poll found that three-quarters of Democrats believe supporting Israel is in our national interest, and nearly 60% support sending weapons and military equipment to Israel.
But for the minority of the base that loathes Israel, it is much more salient, as evidenced by the rampant and often violent and abusive displays of antisemitic harassment across the country since Hamas initiated its illegal war on Israel earlier this month.
As discussed last week, while two-thirds of seniors polled by Yahoo News said their sympathies outright lie with Israel as opposed to just 3% for the Palestinians, only 27% of those between the ages of 18 and 29 sided with Israel, while 19% said they sympathized with the Palestinians. Just 6% of seniors polled by Quinnipiac primarily blame Israel for the worst one-day death toll of Jews since the Holocaust, but an alarming 19% of those 18 to 34 do. (A thin 55% majority at least blame Hamas.)
These figures are borne out in the Gallup data. While Gallup does not provide crosstabulations for specific subsets of Democratic voters, Biden’s overall approval among voters aged 18 through 34 fell by 5 points in just one month. Surprisingly, Biden’s approval fell by 12 points among nonwhite voters overall.
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Again, this Gallup polling is not specifically asking about whether voters approve of Biden’s handling of Israel. Other factors, such as persistent inflation, rising gas prices, and ever-present crime could be influencing negative attitudes toward his presidency.
But given what we know about the scourge of antisemitism thriving among young voters and the fact that young voters overwhelmingly support Democrats, it is clear that Biden’s moral conviction and fortitude have persisted not without steep electoral costs.