For months, Joe Biden has publicly expressed unwavering support for Israel in the wake of the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you're aware that Biden’s rhetoric has shifted significantly as he and other Democrats are caving to the antisemitic wing of their party.
Just last week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.J.), who is Jewish, called on Israel to hold new elections in the hope of ousting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is pursuing an aggressive effort to wipe out Hamas, and Biden even praised Schumer’s speech.
What happened? How did Biden and so many in his party go from supporting Israel’s efforts to attacking Israel regularly and doing anything possible to undermine the Jewish state?
The answer, of course, is that Biden’s public support of Israel is hurting his electoral chances. In 2016, Donald Trump narrowly won Michigan by roughly 11,000 votes. In 2020, Biden won the state back with a margin of 150,000 votes. Last month, more than 101,000 Democratic primary voters in the state cast protest votes against him over his stance on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
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"In 2012, even President Barack Obama suffered 20,000 such defections,” CNN senior reporter Stephen Collinson observed last month. "That was a blip in a cruise to reelection. But on Tuesday night, Biden got an unmistakable message. With 95% of the vote in, Biden had 81% of votes cast. But more than 101,000 voters had made their point by casting an uncommitted ballot. The size of the uncommitted vote after an organized campaign by Arab American and progressive critics of Biden’s Middle East policy is the most tangible sign yet of how the war in Gaza is tearing at the fabric of the Democratic Party."
"Biden has eight months to fix his Michigan problem,” he declared.
It’s been nearly a month since Collinson’s prognosis. Is Joe Biden fixing his Michigan problem? Not according to the latest CNN poll, which shows Trump ahead of Biden 50% to 42% — a formidable eight-point lead. This is virtually unchanged from the previous CNN poll in the state showing Trump beating Biden by 50% to 40%.
The poll also asked which candidate would handle various issues better, and Trump led in almost all of them. On the economy, 55% chose Trump, while just 29% chose Biden. On immigration, 53% chose Trump, and just 27% chose Biden. On the Israel/Hamas war, 44% chose Trump, and 24% chose Biden. On protecting democracy, 42% chose Trump, and 40% chose Biden. On international affairs, 47% chose Trump, and just 34% chose Joe Biden. The only issue Biden led Trump on was abortion, with 40% saying Biden would better handle the issue and 32% saying Trump would.
I would say that Biden still has a Michigan problem. It's a pretty large problem, and despite his waning support for Israel, the needle isn't moving in his direction. This could be bad news for Israel because Biden is bound to take more drastic measures to undermine its efforts to obliterate Hamas.
