Newsweek magazine said that President Joe Biden's popularity is continuing to decline among American voters, and stated that voters have expressed increasing dissatisfaction with his handling of the war on Gaza and his support for Israel, according to a poll conducted by the magazine.

In the wake of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) attack on Israel on October 7, Biden - as the magazine says in a report written by Brendan Cole - stood next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said that Israel “is not alone.”

Three polls conducted exclusively for Newsweek magazine showed that American voters' dissatisfaction with Biden's behavior in the crisis has increased sharply since last December.

One foreign policy expert in the Middle East and the United States told the magazine that the Israeli issue may be “very difficult for Biden to explain to his audiences” during the presidential election campaign.

Positive start

Eleven days after Biden pledged full support for Tel Aviv, the poll, with a margin of error of 2.53%, showed that the percentage of American voters’ support for the president’s handling of the situation in Israel was plus two percentage points, as 37% supported his actions, compared to 35% who did not support them, but rather It rose to 6%, with 39% supporting it, compared to 33% who rejected it, in another poll conducted on December 8th.

But the Israeli bombing of Gaza in the wake of the Hamas attacks, which led to the deaths of more than 33,000 Palestinians, with the entire population of Gaza facing hunger according to the United Nations, has made a lot of difference after these polls, especially with American officials refusing to prevent military aid to Israel, but rather providing it - According to the Washington Post - with 1,800 MK-84 bombs weighing 2,000 pounds and other weapons.

However, Biden's announcement of a plan to build a port on the Gaza coast to facilitate the flow of aid to the Strip, and to begin airdropping aid into Gaza, was supported by more than half of the participants (51%) in the last opinion poll conducted from March 23 to 24, which showed 23% “strongly” supported the plan, while only 16% opposed it.

However, this policy did not change voters’ positive opinions about Biden’s handling of the Gaza crisis - according to the magazine - as 44% said that American efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to the territories controlled by “Hamas” did not change their opinion about how Biden dealt with the crisis, Biden's approval rating dropped by 6 points after last December.

According to the latest poll, 22% of respondents believe that the president is largely responsible, 23% that he is responsible “to some extent,” and 21% that he is “responsible,” compared to 24% who believe that “Hamas” is most responsible for the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

Anger

But what is most significant - according to the newspaper - is that 23% of “Generation Z” voters (born between 1997 and 2012) held Biden most responsible for the humanitarian situation, compared to 8% of that generation who blamed “Hamas,” and 12% of that generation blamed Hamas. % believe that Netanyahu is responsible, and 10% place responsibility on the Israeli army.

The views of the millennial generation (born between 1981 and 1996) did not differ much from “Generation Z,” as 22% of the millennial generation saw Biden as the most responsible, compared to only 15% who blamed “Hamas,” while 13% blamed Biden. Of them, 14% are most responsible for Netanyahu and the Israeli army, respectively.

US foreign relations and Middle East expert Osama Khalil told Newsweek magazine, “The problem is that most voters, especially among young people and minorities, are deeply divided, and what they see is that the Biden administration is complicit in what is now described as the genocide taking place in Gaza.”

General grumbling

Finally, a White House statement about a phone call with Netanyahu following the killing of 7 people working in the World Central Kitchen said that continued American support for Israel depends on the immediate new steps taken by Tel Aviv in Gaza, and that the killing of humanitarian workers is “unacceptable.”

However, even if Biden’s patience with Netanyahu is beginning to run out, he does not seem to be very popular with American voters - as the magazine sees it - as Khalil says, “Public concern versus actual clear support for the Netanyahu government, politically, diplomatically and militarily, will be difficult for Biden.” 

Khalil added, "It will be very difficult for him to explain this to Al-Qaeda and motivate it to leave last November."

Source: Newsweek