“Do you think that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinian civilians?” That was a question on the latest Economist poll by YouGov. Among registered voters 32% said yes, 42% said no and 26% were unsure. BUT, among people who voted for Biden in 2020, it was a different picture:
Yes (Israel is committing genocide)- 50%
No (Israel is not committing genocide)- 20%
Not sure- 30%
A plurality of Democrats (49%) and a plurality of independents (36%) say Israel is committing genocide. Among Republicans, just 18% understand that Israel is committing genocide. Biden’s 2020 coalition is not all that sympathetic to Israel any longer. Asked which side in the war they feel most sympathetic to, registered voted responded like this:
The Israelis- 45%
The Palestinians- 16%
About Equal- 26%
Unsure- 13%
Again, that looked very different among people who say they had voted for Biden in 2020:
The Israelis- 24%
The Palestinians- 27%
About Equal- 36%
Unsure- 13%
Biden may be seriously misreading his own base on this. That's very dangerous politically in an election year. He better get his shit together or he's going to hand the country over to Trump. Democrats and left-leaning independents have had it with Israeli’s bad behavior and don’t want U.S. complicity in genocide, ethnic cleansing or apartheid. Between Likud and AIPAC, progressives are much less sympathetic to Israel than in the past and much more likely to see the Palestinians as human beings.
And it isn’t only the party base that’s evolving. A few days ago, Reuters reported that “Forty-nine of the 51 members of the Senate Democratic caucus backed an amendment supporting a negotiated solution to the conflict that results in Israeli and Palestinian states living side by side, ensuring Israel's survival as a secure, democratic, Jewish state and fulfilling the Palestinians' ‘legitimate aspirations’ for a state of their own.” This is not the Likud/AIPAC position.
Of the 213 Democrats in the House, 62 have called for a ceasefire. That’s 29%… compared to almost 80% of grassroots Democrats.
AIPAC is targeting some of these members for defeat this year, laundering as much as $100 million, they claim, from wealthy Republicans who want to defeat progressives in blue districts where Republicans have no chance. Let's not let that happen, the way it happened to Andy Levin, Marie Newman, Donna Edwards, Nina Turner and a dozen other progressives last cycle. Please consider contributing to people on AIPAC’s target list here. AIPAC is the enemy of the United States.