According to Gallup, here is Joe Biden's approval rating over the past two years:
It's been rock steady among all groups since the beginning of 2022....
....Until this month, when it suddenly slipped by 11 points among Democrats. Why? Presumably it's related to his hawkish pro-Israel stance, which has prompted losses among the far left. It seems unlikely this will be a long-term decline, but it certainly seems to suggest a strong depth of feeling among at least a segment of the Democratic Party.
I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.
Will Rogers
I don't see it as a "far left" thing. Anybody with their eyes open can see that Israel is being unfairly privileged, at the expense of the people it oppresses.
Are you OK with Israel tightening up the security wall and foregoing an attack on Hamas?
It's entirely possible for bad things to happen to people who in turn do bad things to others. Thieves occasionally get attacked by rapists. Rapists occasionally get murdered by killers. Killers occasionally find themselves on airplanes that hijackers crash. There is no rule that says "one can only be innocent/good/saintly or guilty/evil/sinful" - lots of us are mixed bags of both in how we lead our lives and treat others.
Just because Hamas committed atrocities against Israel and thus Israel has a right to defend itself and go on the offensive to get rid of Hamas, doesn't mean that it's impossible to criticize how Israel treated the Gazans - many of which were members of Hamas and many more of which were just random poor people living there - for multiple decades leading up to the current situation. I believe Israel should attack/get rid of Hamas AND ALSO believe Israel has done very shitty things to Palestinians for many years.
This is the plainest I've seen it presented. Just realize that in certain circles, this argument would earn you ejection from that circle...
Yes, at DKos I have been flagged from both sides. Most Palestinians DON'T want peace. Neither do a majority of Israelis. I say let them kill each other.
"Tightening security" has been the go-to solution for many years now. It still isn't working well. Maybe this time, eh?
"Tightening security" has been the go-to solution for many years now. ..."
Security along the border with Gaza doesn't appear to have been very tight at all.
I totally concur and feel Joe made a huge mistake. No wonder his numbers are down.
Could be Israel. Or maybe not.
It could be an outlier. Or it could be frustration with the Democratic Party in general. It might be border and migrant issues. (I recently listened to a radio show that featured some black Chicago activists who are upset that some of their scarce community resources are being diverted to house migrants bussed from Texas. They blame Biden and the Dems.)
It *could* be lots of things.
But it *probably is* the result of Biden's one-sided backing of the Israeli side in this conflict.
Maybe the failure of Democrats to vote to preserve Republican McCarthy as speaker. Maybe Democrats' failure to elect Republican Scalise as speaker. Maybe their refusal to support Republican Gym Jordan as speaker. Hey, maybe they made what's his name, that last Republican that got the Republican vote, bow out after innumerable rounds of voting, which he won.
Maybe whenever "Congress is broken!", it's on Democrats and any Democrat who dares to be President.
But I'm still going with Biden's full-throated unconditional support for any and all Israeli military action, regardless of how brutal and disproportionate.
Maybe, maybe, maybe. Maybe it's not the Democrat's job to elect Republican
Speakers. It has never been before. Any more than it's the Republican's job to elect Democratic speakers.
His support for Israel is the most likely cause, assuming of course, that this isn't some outlier poll.
Biden has never expressed “full-throated unconditional support for any and all Israeli military action, regardless of how brutal and disproportionate”. Go read transcripts of his actual statements. He has repeatedly reminded Israel of its obligations to act proportionately, and to protect civilian lives to the extent possible. He has cautioned the Israeli government against reacting hastily and making the mistakes, as the U.S. did after 9/111/2001.
They should. As Kevin has shown Biden has presided over very high levels and his failure to actually deal with FL and TX transfers has hurt him badly in blue states. It probably won't matter for EC, but pop vote and down ballot will hurt.
I'm more interested in state by state polling now and his stance will hurt him with some voters. There's still 12 months til the election and anything can happen.
Proving 'Democrats' are as stupid as everyone else.
Biden has made no effort whatsoever to stop the bloodshed in Ukraine, but rather funneled hundreds of $billions in tax money to the U.S. arms industry to keep the fight going. He is doing the same thing in Israel. Trump is a nightmare, of course, but I barely worked up the effort to vote for Biden in 2020 and he is looking less and less attractive every day.
(Deep sigh) I would like to politely suggest that you don't know what you're talking about. There are three easy ways for the war in Ukraine to end or pause: a Russian victory that would topple the democratically-elected government, embolden an aggressive dictatorship, and threaten the security of NATO members in the Baltic region and Poland; for the conflict to freeze up, thus allowing Russia several years to resupply itself and try again later; or for Russia to withdraw its forces and return to its own borders. Option 1 is unacceptable and option 2 is highly undesirable, so Biden's choices have sped up option 3, and if anything we should be giving Ukraine more support, in order to end the violence sooner.
Look at this! Already showing some losses. What could it be? Sad, I agree, but that’s the left for you. Completely unreliable.
+1
I was about to write roughly the same thing.
“Trump is a nightmare, of course, but I barely worked up the effort to vote for Biden in 2020 and he is looking less and less attractive every day.” This statement by GS shows someone who has trouble prioritizing and understanding the stakes. Or he’s a fan of Putin’s invasion.
Or he welcomes global climate change, decaying infrastructure, high drug prices, lagging technology. But then there’s the opportunity to control women’s bodies, shove queer people back into closets, stamp out all that diversity and inclusion nonsense, and focus on the really important issue — tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy.
Cutting regulations imporatnt issue too.
"...or for Russia to withdraw its forces and return to its own borders. .."
This really means force Russia out which doesn't appear feasible. So that leaves option two which it might be better to settle for now rather than after some more failed attempts at option three which just get a lot of people killed.
(Deep sigh) If Biden were being honest about the Gaza situation he wouldn't be pretending the casualties there were very low.
https://www.independent.co.uk/world/gaza-death-toll-biden-israel-b2437391.html
A friend who is Black mentioned several months ago that he was not really happy with Biden, and Harris had lost support as well in his community. Anecdotal, of course. I told him that Biden/Harris, even on their weakest issue, was better for the country than Trump.
Sure, but lots of people don’t imagine trump and the republicans will be that bad. I mean, if they really are that bad, maybe we should take up arms. No, they aren’t that bad. Just a few tax cuts and benefit cuts. Some Democratic Party pundits and politicians go to jail. But not me. It’ll be fine.
For normal people it WASN'T that bad. Economy was fine and no matter what you saw of the news even as a brown person life didn't really change. Coronavirus pandemic was the big thing.
How do they feel about abortion? Not sure why people think they can take away that right and not things like gay marriage and blacks voting. What do they think Trump and Supreme Court want to nullify the 14th Amendment. Well at least they won’t have to worry about voting anymore, so I guess that’s a good reason to vote for Trump if you are black.
There are more abortions now than pre-Dobbs and that's under counting pill abortion at home.
Netanyahu linked Israel to the Republican party and not only ignored the American left but actively antagonized them. His response to any criticism was a big middle finger and charges or anti semitism. Just another person to add to the long list of people who have destroyed any hope of a legacy by associating with Trump.
Democrats under 40 believe Palestine is in the right. Biden's barely critical embrace of Israel and ineffectual crumbs to the Palestinians are obscene to these people. They see it as equivalent to providing a gun to an adult to shoot a child with a nail file
…”Presumably it's related to his hawkish pro-Israel stance, which has prompted losses among the far left.”
What if it’s the opposite; he’s too dovish for them? Maybe they think Biden is anti-Semitic because his denunciation of Hamas wasn’t full-throated enough, too both-sidery, or Biden is preventing Israel from raining destruction on Gaza like they would like.
"...What if it’s the opposite; he’s too dovish for them? ..."
Could be both at the same time. It can be awkward having two groups in your coalition that hate each other.
Biden's speech asking for $100b to wage war against Hamas and Russia right after returning from the killing fields of Gaza was a real downer.