[The data shows that 66 percent of voters—and 80 percent of
Democrats—want the president to call for a cease-fire. The longer he
waits, the more voters will stay home next November.]
[[link removed]]
BIDEN’S QUAGMIRE: ISRAEL, GAZA, AND THOSE REALLY SCARY POLLS
[[link removed]]
James Zogby for the Nation
November 8, 2023
The Nation
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]
_ The data shows that 66 percent of voters—and 80 percent of
Democrats—want the president to call for a cease-fire. The longer he
waits, the more voters will stay home next November. _
An Arab American voter at a poll site. , Hill Street Studios / Getty
Images
Last week, my organization, the Arab American Institute, released
a poll
[[link removed]] of
Arab Americans that sought to gauge how the horrific violence
engulfing Israelis and Palestinians was impacting our community. The
results spell bad news for President Biden.
I knew from my half-century of work organizing Arab Americans that
they are deeply supportive of Palestinians and that there is rising
concern about an anti-Arab backlash. So we expected to find
disappointment with the Biden administration. What surprised us was
the degree of frustration—and the intensity of the fear of a
backlash.
We saw a dramatic decline in Arab American support for President Biden
reflected in the poll. Only 17 percent said they would cast a ballot
for him in 2024, a sharp drop from the 59 percent who voted for Biden
in 2020. To find the reason, we didn’t need to look any further than
the two-thirds of Arab Americans who say they have a negative view of
the president’s handling of the current violence in Palestine and
Israel—the same proportion who believe the United States should call
for a cease-fire to end the hostilities.
The poll demonstrates that Arab Americans also worry about the
domestic fallout from the war and the heated rhetoric that has
accompanied it. Eight in 10 Arab Americans fear that the current
violence may provoke anti-Arab bigotry, and two-thirds are similarly
concerned about anti-Semitism. There is also anxiety about publicly
expressing views in support of Palestinian rights, with half of all
Arab Americans concerned about discrimination at school, at work, and
in their local community because of the conflict.
Significantly, Arab Americans aren’t alone in their disappointment
with President Biden. From my time working with the Jesse Jackson
campaigns of 1984 and 1988, the Bernie Sanders campaigns of 2016 and
2020, and my three decades as a member of the Democratic National
Committee, I also knew that President Biden’s unqualified support
for Israel and his refusal to call for a cease-fire wouldn’t sit
well
[[link removed]] with
core Democratic voters. And they haven’t.
Before October 7, polls
[[link removed]] showed
that Democrats had a more favorable view of Palestinians than of
Israelis. Change was to be expected in the immediate aftermath of
Hamas’s October 7 massacres of Israeli civilians. But as the toll on
Palestinian civilians continues to mount, attitudes shifted again.
A YouGov survey
[[link removed]] taken
less than two weeks after the Israeli assault on Gaza began showed
that half of Democrats sympathized equally with Israelis and
Palestinians. While this even split in sympathy was also the case with
Black voters, 30 percent of all voters under 29 years old had more
sympathy for Palestinians, compared with 19 percent for Israelis. And
a Data for Progress poll
[[link removed]] showed
that 66 percent of all voters—and 80 percent of Democrats—want the
president to call for a cease-fire. Young, Black, and Latino voters
drive these Democratic numbers.
The bottom line is that the White House is badly out of step with the
coalition that helped Biden defeat Donald Trump. While Arab Americans
played a significant role in Michigan and Pennsylvania—where they
constitute up to 5 percent and 2 percent
[[link removed]] of those
states’ voters, respectively—young voters and Black and Latino
voters are decisive blocs in many more states. They didn’t turn out
to elect a wartime president whose rhetoric echoes that of a hawkish
Ronald Reagan and who regularly goes to Congress to ask for tens of
billions in armaments to fuel more wars. They voted for a president
who would champion human rights and diplomacy, the rule of law, and an
end to “forever wars.”
Some Democratic strategists claim that Arab Americans, people of
color, and progressive young voters will soon forget their
disappointment and vote in 2024 as they did in 2020. This stance is
insulting—and fraught with danger. If past Democratic defeats have
taught us anything, it’s that we can’t take any group of voters
for granted. If Biden loses just 25 percent of the Arab vote in
Michigan—or 5 percent of the rest of the progressive coalition—it
could spell defeat in 2024.
_JAMES JOSEPH ZOGBY is the founder and president of the Arab American
Institute, a Washington, D.C.–based organization that serves as a
political and policy research arm of the Arab-American community. He
is Managing Director of Zogby Research Services, LLC, specializing in
research and communications and undertaking polling across the Arab
world. In September 2013 President Obama appointed Zogby to the United
States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Zogby is a
lecturer and scholar on Middle East issues and a Visiting Professor of
Social Research and Public Policy at New York University Abu Dhabi.
From 2001 to 2017 he was a member of the Executive Committee of the
Democratic National Committee._
_Copyright c 2023 THE NATION. Reprinted with permission. May not be
reprinted without permission
[[link removed]].
Distributed by PARS International Corp
[[link removed]]. _
_Founded by abolitionists in 1865, The Nation has chronicled the
breadth and depth of political and cultural life, from the debut of
the telegraph to the rise of Twitter, serving as a critical,
independent, and progressive voice in American journalism._
_Please support progressive journalism. Get a digital subscription
[[link removed]] to
The Nation for just $24.95!_
* Joe Biden
[[link removed]]
* elections
[[link removed]]
* Palestine
[[link removed]]
* Israel
[[link removed]]
* Ceasefire
[[link removed]]
* Arab Americans
[[link removed]]
* Black voters
[[link removed]]
* Latino Voters
[[link removed]]
* youth vote
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]
INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT
Submit via web
[[link removed]]
Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]
Twitter [[link removed]]
Facebook [[link removed]]
[link removed]
To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]
