President Joe Biden is in trouble with the Democratic base when it comes to the war between Israel and Hamas. It’s not just that his approval rating on the conflict is lower among Democrats than his overall approval rating. His foundation is divided by age.
The age differences within political parties on this issue are the largest ever seen on a major issue. Check out a recent Quinnipiac University survey on this topic. Biden’s support for his handling of the Israel-Hamas war among Democrats and Democratic voters is just 56 percent. Compare that to his 76% approval rating among Democratic voters for his overall job performance. A significant minority of Democrats and Democratic voters (36%) disapprove of his handling of the war. These voters are usually young.
Most (69%) of Democrats and Democratic people under the age of 35 disapprove of Biden’s stance on the war. Only 24% agree. Among older Democrats, the opposite is true. A majority of Democrats 65 and older (77%) approve of Biden on this issue. Few (16%) disagree. The reason for the split is pretty clear when you dig into the data. By most non-partisan views, Biden was more sympathetic to Israel than the Palestinians during the war. It doesn’t sit well with younger Democrats. When asked which side they support, the Israelis or the Palestinians, Democrats under the age of 35 sympathize much more with the Palestinians (74%) than the Israelis (16%). Democrats 65 and older are slightly more likely to support the Israelis (45%) than the Palestinians (25%).
The large age difference causes Democrats and Democratic voters to be roughly evenly split, with 39 percent favouring the Palestinians and 35 percent favouring the Israelis.
This is a huge shift from the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, when Democrats were more likely to sympathize with Israel by 48 percent to 22 percent. The poll in question was conducted shortly after a surprise terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7, which killed around 1,200 people. Since then, Israel has launched an offensive against Gaza and more than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry.
However, the current age divide goes deeper than just this war or Israeli Palestinian relations. It depends on whether the Democrats see Israel as a partner.
A majority of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters (70%) believe that supporting Israel is in the national interest. That includes 87 percent of those 65 and older.
Democrats under 35 see things quite differently. Only 40 percent believe that supporting Israel is in the country’s national interest. The majority (52%) disagree.
LINK- https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/20/politics/polling-democrats-divided israel-palestine
NAME- RANJEET YADAV, COLLEGE- LLOYD LAW COLLEGE GREATER NOIDA
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