There is no doubt that Joe Biden's public support has hurt him with the antisemitic wing of his party. In states like Michigan, which has a large Muslim population, Biden's pro-Israel positions could ultimately cost him the state.
In Michigan's Democratic primary last month, over 101,000 voters expressed discontent with Biden's position on the Israel-Hamas conflict. This dissent is noteworthy, especially considering Donald Trump's narrow victory in Michigan in 2016 and Biden's significant margin of victory in 2020.
The latest CNN poll indicates that Trump is leading by eight points in Michigan, a state that Biden cannot afford to lose. Naturally, the president has adopted a more critical stance toward Israel over its conflict with Hamas. This week, the administration stabbed Israel in the back by not vetoing a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The Biden White House has made a political calculation that he has a better chance of winning the election if he takes a harder stance on Israel.
According to a survey that Gideon300 conducted with RMG Research and shared with PJ Media, this strategy won't help. Instead, the Biden administration's pressure on Israel is backfiring. A slim majority of 55% of respondents expressed a favorable stance toward encouraging the U.S. to pressure Israel into a peace deal with the Palestinian Authority, with 27% strongly in favor and 28% somewhat in favor, compared to 13% who somewhat oppose and 10% who strongly oppose.
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However, opinions underwent a substantial transformation when pollsters presented respondents with additional information regarding the PA's intentions. Upon learning about the PA's inclination to form a unity government with Hamas, including the provision of cabinet positions for Hamas members and financial backing for Hamas, along with the knowledge that 82% of PA supporters approved of the terrorist attacks by Hamas on October 7, attitudes changed significantly.
Once respondents learned this information, less than a third remained supportive of the peace deal. Only 10% expressed strongly favoring it, while 20% held a somewhat favorable view. Conversely, opposition grew significantly, with 21% somewhat opposed and 25% strongly opposed to the idea.
Democratic voters had the highest level of support for pressuring Israel into a peace deal, but they also experienced the most significant shift in sentiment following revelations about the PA's association with Hamas. The proportion of Democratic voters supporting the deal plummeted from 73% initially to 43% after learning of the PA's association with Hamas.
Independent voters followed suit, with support dwindling from 47% to 28%. Republican voters also displayed a decline in support, but to a lesser extent because there wasn't much support for these ideas in the first place. Republican support dropped from 38% to 19%.
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“This data reveals that voters are squarely opposed to any proposal that would force Israel to make a deal with terrorists, or those who support terror,” said Matthew Faraci, President of Gideon300. “At the beginning of this survey, a slim majority favored the U.S. brokering a deal involving [the] Palestinian Authority. However, after learning about the PA’s alignment with Hamas, voters dramatically switched their opinion, and — in the end — a strong majority across all parties opposed such a deal."
Faraci continued, “Elected representatives in both parties should look past the noise and pay close attention to data revealing where the public really is on this issue.”
This data tells us that Biden won't be able to save his campaign by pandering to the pro-Palestinian wing of his party.
