By Manzanita Miller
Biden’s mishandling of the economy is a core component of his deteriorating support in national polls, but Americans are also extremely weary of Biden’s handling of foreign conflict – particularly regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict
The latest CBS News / YouGov poll shows Americans disapprove of Biden’s handling of the conflict between Israel and Hamas by 22 points and Americans say by 14 points that Biden’s recent actions regarding the Israel Hamas war make a peaceful resolution less likely, not more so.
This comes after one of Biden’s harshest comments to date on Israel at a December 12th fundraising event. Biden stated that while Israel has support from the U.S. and most of the world, the Israeli government is “starting to lose that support by indiscriminate bombing that takes place”.
Biden is under pressure from left-wing Democrats to scale back support for Israel, but at the same time a significant number of Americans believe Biden isn’t showing enough support for Israel and has been too lenient with Palestinian sympathizers.
Overall, Americans largely disapprove of Biden’s handling of the Israel Hamas conflict with the public saying by 22 points (61% to 39%) they disapprove of Biden’s response to the escalating brutality.
However, it is Millennials and younger Gen X voters who disapprove of Biden’s handling of the Israel Hamas conflict at the highest rates. Americans 30 to 44 disapprove of Biden’s handling of the Israel Hamas conflict by a jaw-dropping 36 percentage points, while Gen Z is evenly split between support and opposition, older Gen X voters disapprove by 26 points, and Boomers disapprove by 20 points.
While Whites disapprove of Biden’s handling of the conflict at the highest rate – by 26 points –
Hispanics also disapprove by 18 points and Blacks narrowly approve by four points.
Biden maintains lukewarm support from Democrats, who approve of his handling of the Israel Hamas conflict by 26 points but is deep underwater with Independents who disapprove by 30 points and Republicans who disapprove by 56 points.
Americans also believe Biden’s response to the conflict makes a peaceful resolution less possible as opposed to more possible, with the public saying by 14 points Biden’s recent actions make a peaceful resolution less likely. At the same time, 46% of the public believes Biden’s actions have no impact on a peaceful resolution either way.
Millennials and younger Gen X voters strongly feel Biden’s response to the Israel Hamas conflict makes a peaceful resolution less likely by 19 points, and Boomers agree by 20 points. Whites say Biden’s actions make a peaceful resolution less likely by 15 points, and Hispanics agree by 14 points, showing very little disagreement. Blacks say by a slim 6 points that Biden’s actions make a peaceful resolution more likely.
This is not the first public survey in the past four weeks to show Americans believe Biden’s erratic leadership is not likely to foster peace. A YouGov survey from November also found that Americans view Trump as the president most likely to keep the U.S. from entering a war. That survey showed a twenty-point difference between voters who said Trump would keep the U.S. out of another war compared to the share who said Biden would. Independents said by 29 points Trump was more likely than Biden to keep the U.S. out of another war, and Hispanics said the same by 24 points.
Americans aren’t just looking to remove Biden because of his disastrous economic policies – though a majority believe they are worse off after three years under Biden than at any other time in modern history. Voters strongly believe Biden’s handling of the Israel Hamas conflict has been inadequate and is destroying the chances of a peaceful resolution, not bolstering them. Americans also believe by double-digit margins that Trump is more likely to keep the U.S. out of another war compared to Biden.
Manzanita Miller is an associate analyst at Americans for Limited Government Foundation.
