Biden's polling is abysmal, but Netanyahu's is even worse

By Amir Tibon   

Amid abysmal polling results following Thursday's presidential debate, U.S. President Joe Biden can console himself a tiny bit in the fact that there's at least one leader who is even less trusted by his country's citizens to lead them

U.S. President Joe Biden during a debate with Donald Trump in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem last January.

The biggest question in U.S. politics since the presidential debate on Thursday night has been whether or not President Joe Biden should step aside and allow another Democrat to run in the upcoming election. According to a poll released on Sunday by CBS News, 64 percent of Americans believe Biden should step aside, while only 36 percent believe he should remain the nominee and run against Donald Trump in November of this year.

These are abysmal results for Biden, showing that a majority of the American public, including many of his own supporters and admirers, think he should retire after one term as president in order to improve his party's chances of stopping Trump from destroying American democracy. It's hard to see how the leader of a democratic society can come back from this kind of consensus in public opinion.

But Biden can console himself a tiny bit in the fact that there's at least one leader who is even less trusted by his country's citizens to lead them: Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli prime minister, according to a poll released on Friday night on Channel 12, Israel's most popular news channel, still has the trust of only about a quarter of Israelis – even worse than Biden's loyal third of the American public.

The poll asked if Netanyahu should retire from politics or hang on as premier, in light of the October 7 attack and the nine-months-long war Israel has been fighting since then. Twenty-seven percent of respondents said Netanyahu should remain in office and seek re-election next time Israelis go to the polls; 66 percent, almost two-thirds, said he should retire. As bad as Biden's post-debate polling has been, he still hasn't reached this level of non-satisfaction.

Netanyahu, however, has one thing still working for him: The cynical fantasy world created by pro-Israeli lobby groups in the U.S. for their donors and grassroots supporters. In that alternative universe, Netanyahu is a popular leader that has Israeli society rallied behind him, when in reality, he is the most divisive leader in the country's history, and a total failure on all fronts. The continued loyalty of powerful pro-Netanyahu (supposedly pro-Israel) groups in Washington is helping him more than ever, as he prepares for a political propaganda speech in front of the U.S. Congress in three weeks, hoping it will help him win back some of his lost support in Israel.

Finally, here's another important number from the Channel 12 poll: 85 percent of Israelis, including a majority of Netanyahu's voters, support the creation of a national committee of inquiry to investigate the October 7 catastrophe. But Netanyahu continues to oppose this, while also falsely claiming he had nothing to do with that day's failures. What does he have to fear?