With the 2024 presidential election just around the corner, President Biden sees Donald Trump gaining popularity again. One of the factors that has caused his popularity to plummet is his foreign policy decisions. The US President appears to be at odds with parts of the electorate over US support for Israel.
According to the BBC, polls show the US president is at odds with young voters who express their opposition to such policies. That’s a concern for Democrats because opposing Biden’s policies could jeopardize a key base of support the president was counting on in the 2020 election.
Images of war
Over the past two months, young voters have seen images of war and destruction in Gaza on the news and on social media. They watched the death toll, which the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said had already exceeded 20,000 Palestinians.
At the same time, they watched Biden publicly support Israel’s efforts to destroy Hamas after the group and its allies killed 1,200 people in Israel on October 7. About 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza.
Seven in ten young people disapprove of Biden’s policies on Israel
The BBC looked at the polls and spoke to six young Democratic voters in the US. The findings and interviews reveal a growing sense of political discord among young voters ahead of the 2024 elections.
However, registered voters ages 18-29 said they were more likely to support the Palestinian cause than Israel, according to a recent New York Times/Siena poll. Voters aged 18-29 are generally critical of Israel and its counter-offensive against Hamas, while older voters have a more favorable view of the country, according to the poll.
While a clear majority of registered voters – 57% – disapprove of Mr. Biden’s handling of the conflict, the strongest objections come from younger voters. According to a Times/Siena poll, 72% of voters aged 18-29 disapprove of Mr. Biden’s performance.
Notably, Democrats were counting on young voter turnout to help them win the 2020 presidential election and the 2022 midterm elections. The Democratic machine routinely pours millions of dollars into youth outreach to increase their support.
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How support for Israel is changing youth voting
Abdul Osman, 22, isn’t sure he can vote for President Joe Biden again. According to him, these doubts are largely due to the fact that the Biden administration supports Israel, which continues to bomb Gaza. “As a peace-loving Muslim and a black man, it is appalling to see how Palestinians are oppressed,” said Mr. Osmanu, who was elected to the local city council in 2021. “I would have a hard time in good conscience voting for a president who condones this in every possible way.”
A young Connecticut voter told the BBC he is weighing whether to vote for a third-party candidate or leave his ballot blank in the 2024 presidential election. But the decision is not easy for him because he – and many other young voters – do not want Donald Trump to be elected again.
There are exceptions
The exception is Jessica Schwab, a 20-year-old student at Columbia University in New York, who said she doesn’t want Trump to be re-elected and believes Biden is handling the conflict well. “He supports Israel, provides it with military supplies and general defense funding,” she said. “But I like that he also calls for humanitarian pauses and introduces a kind of respite to reduce the number of casualties in Gaza.”
Still, there are Biden supporters who argue that the 2024 election is still almost a year away and that young Democrats will support their party if they find themselves in a dilemma between Biden and Trump. “It’s a choice between two candidates,” said Jack Lobell of the Gen Z voter advocacy group Voters of Tomorrow. “And while President Biden’s policies on Gaza may upset some young people, it won’t change the fact that he and Donald Trump – two completely different people.”
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