Washington, DC – Arab American assist for United States President Joe Biden has plummeted to an all-time low of 17 % as he continues to again the Israeli offensive in Gaza, in response to a brand new survey.
The research, launched on Tuesday by the Arab American Institute (AAI) assume tank, confirmed a staggering 42-percent drop in assist amongst Arab American communities since 2020, the yr of Biden’s election.
Respondents additionally overwhelmingly mentioned they’d a unfavorable angle in direction of Biden along with his approval ranking tumbling to 29 %, an 18-percent drop since April.
James Zogby, AAI’s president, described the findings as “dramatic”.
“The dissatisfaction with President Biden is admittedly fairly vital,” Zogby mentioned throughout a digital briefing. “His numbers are dangerously low, extra so than I’ve ever seen for a Democratic candidate for president.”
The research was carried out final week, surveying 500 Arab American respondents.
We did a particular ballot of #ArabAmericans since newest outbreak of violence in Palestine/Israel. Per many different voters, ballot exhibits overwhelming opposition to response to disaster. Assist for @POTUS Biden has dropped from 59% in 2020 to 17% at this time.https://t.co/aD6pl1EaD2 pic.twitter.com/0pwbudYNRk
— Arab American Institute (@AAIUSA) October 31, 2023
The brand new knowledge coincides with Biden’s dedication to “rock-solid and unwavering assist” for Israel, because it continues a army operation in Gaza that has killed greater than 8,500 Palestinians since October 7.
The Democratic US president is operating for reelection, and whereas the vote is just not till November of subsequent yr, many Palestinian, Arab and Muslim American advocates have pledged to not again him over his stance on the conflict.
Suehaila Amen — an Arab American activist in Michigan, a state that’s house to a big Arab neighborhood — informed Al Jazeera earlier this week that the rising anger in direction of the president will probably be felt on the poll field in 2024.
“We’re witnessing a bloodbath going down earlier than our very eyes, with the US management having completely no regret or compassion or a shared sense of humanity for what’s taking place,” Amen mentioned.
The US supplies Israel with greater than $3.8bn in army funding every year, however for the reason that conflict started, Biden has pledged to offer Israel with additional help, together with ammunition and different weapons. The White Home has additionally requested $14bn in extra help to Israel from Congress this month.
As well as, critics have mentioned that the Biden administration has alienated Arab American voters by failing to say — and even dismissing — the Palestinian plight.
“That is conflict. It’s fight. It’s bloody. It’s ugly. And it’s going to be messy, and harmless civilians are going to be damage going ahead,” White Home nationwide safety spokesperson John Kirby mentioned final week.
Biden has questioned the variety of Palestinians killed within the battle, saying that he has “no confidence within the quantity that the Palestinians are utilizing”. And his workplace has been accused of conflating requires a ceasefire with anti-Semitism.
One instance got here on Monday, when White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded to a query about “anti-Israel” demonstrations by drawing a parallel to 2017’s lethal white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
“What I can say is we’ve been very clear about this: With regards to anti-Semitism, there is no such thing as a place,” she mentioned, with out explicitly mentioning the protests. “We’ve got to ensure that we communicate in opposition to it very loud and be very clear about that. Bear in mind, when the president determined to run for president is what he noticed in Charlottesville in 2017.”
Because the begin of the conflict in Gaza, different public opinion surveys have additionally proven dissatisfaction with Biden’s dealing with of the disaster.
For instance, whereas the US has firmly resisted calls to finish the preventing, a ballot from the progressive assume tank Knowledge for Progress confirmed that the majority US voters — together with an awesome majority of Democrats — favour backing a ceasefire in Gaza.
General, 66 of respondents mentioned the US ought to push for a ceasefire. That included 80 % of Democrats, 57 % of independents and 56 % of Republicans. That ballot surveyed 1,329 probably voters.
NEW POLL: 66% of probably voters agree that the U.S. ought to name for a ceasefire and de-escalation of violence in Gaza to stop civilian deaths.https://t.co/Mh9xsLGJHX pic.twitter.com/xtdeTgXhHk
— Knowledge for Progress (@DataProgress) October 20, 2023
Final week, a Gallup ballot additionally confirmed that Biden’s approval dropped 11 share factors amongst voters from his personal Democratic Occasion.
It went from 86 % in September to 75 % this month. The US president’s total job approval ranking was 37 %.
In an announcement asserting the ballot’s findings, Gallup famous the conflict in Gaza as a contributing issue. “Biden has confronted criticism from some members of his celebration for aligning too carefully with Israel and never doing sufficient for the Palestinians,” it mentioned.
Analysts have warned that Biden’s staunch assist for Israel might alienate progressive and younger voters, hurting his re-election possibilities in 2024.
As for Arab People, Zogby mentioned on Tuesday that Palestinian rights stay a high difficulty for them — one thing that the Biden administration seems to not perceive.
“Palestine stays the wound within the coronary heart that doesn’t heal. It’s as emotionally necessary to folks of Arab descent as Wounded Knee was to Native People,” he mentioned, referring to the 1890 bloodbath of Indigenous folks in South Dakota.
“That can’t be forgotten. It is a image of a damage. And it’s actual, and folks react viscerally to it.”
