A survey published Thursday by the Reuters news agency and the Ipsos polling institute has provided some extremely worrying data for Israel: It shows that the majority of Democratic voters now prefer a presidential candidate who does not support the transfer of military aid to Israel. According to the survey, which was conducted over three days this week, 56% of the respondents who identified themselves as Democrats said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who supports military aid to Israel, and only 40% said that such support would actually increase the chance that they would vote for him.
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The survey's data fits into an already worrying trend for Israel vis-à-vis Democrats. In recent years, the power of the radical progressive camp in the party has greatly strengthened, and highly vocal figures such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Ilhan Omar, and American-Palestinian congresswoman Rashida Tlaib are convincing masses of Democratic voters to demand that the Democratic Biden administration halt traditional U.S. aid to Israel due to its alleged "abuse" of the Palestinians.
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President Joe Biden continues to support Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza
(Photo: AP)
Despite the pressure on him from Democratic lawmakers and a large portion of his party's voters, President Joe Biden continues to give the green light to Israel's military action in Gaza. This week there was a reminder of the political danger inherent in this for him, when more than 100,000 voters in the Republican primaries in the key state of Michigan chose the "uncommitted" option instead of voting for Biden, to express their protest over his support for Israel.
According to the new survey, an increasing proportion of Democrats, even if it is still a minority, blames Israel for the war in Gaza, with 23% of Democrats saying that they blame the Israeli government, up from 13% in November. Some 46% of Democrats said they blame Hamas, down from 54% in November. An overwhelming majority of Democrats also state that they want a presidential candidate who will call for a cease-fire.
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A majority of Democratic voters now prefer a presidential candidate who does not support the transfer of military aid to Israel
(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
On the other side of the political aisle, the situation is, predictably, the opposite. Some 62% of the Republicans who participated in the survey said that they prefer a presidential candidate who would support the transfer of military aid to Israel, while 34% said that supporting such aid would make them less likely to vote for him.
According to poll released on Thursday, public opinion is equally divided between Biden and his expected opponent in the elections, Donald Trump , with each receiving the support of 36% of the voters - an extremely low rate.
Still, U.S. presidential elections are decided by the electoral system, from that perspective Biden's situation continues to look grim. According to a survey published on Thursday by Bloomberg, Trump leads over Biden in seven key states and the president must win in almost all of them if he wants to win the presidential election in November.
Trump leads by 9% in North Carolina, 6% in Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Nevada, 4% in Wisconsin and 2% in Michigan. If these are the results of the election, it will mean a resounding defeat for Biden.