So normally when an international incident happens, the President gets a bump.
Yeah, that’s not happening for Joe Biden.
There were two big polls that came out recently following the horrible attack on civilians in southern Israel.
First up was a CNN poll that found that a large majority of Americans support Israel and feel that they are justified to go to war with Hamas. Additionally, the other 20% believes Israel is somewhat justified:
Half of Americans (50%) say that the Israeli government’s military response to the Hamas attacks is fully justified, another 20% say it’s partially justified and just 8% that it is not at all justified, with 21% unsure. Republicans are far more likely than independents or Democrats to say the response is fully justified (68% of Republicans say so compared with 45% of independents and 38% of Democrats), and older Americans are also much likelier than younger ones to say it is completely justified (81% of those age 65 or older see the response as fully justified, compared with 56% of 50-to-64-year-olds, 44% of 35-to-49-year-olds and 27% of 18-to-34-year-olds). Majorities across age and party, though, say the Israeli response is at least partially justified, with very few Americans of any age or party affiliation saying the response is not at all justified.
A sizable 71% of Americans say they feel a lot of sympathy for the Israeli people over the attacks by Hamas on October 7, with nearly all, 96%, expressing at least some sympathy for them. A broad majority also feel at least some sympathy for the Palestinian people (87%), but fewer feel a lot of sympathy for the Palestinians (41%). Nearly all Americans (84%) express at least some sympathy for both Israeli and Palestinian people as they face ongoing fighting.
President Biden was quick to denounce the violence in Israel and show the country support, but it didn’t do anything for him.
More from the CNN poll:
Few Americans express a great deal of trust in Biden to make the right decisions on the situation in Israel (16%), with about 3 in 10 saying they trust him moderately (31%), 26% saying they have not much trust and 28% none at all. There are broad partisan gaps, with 80% of Democrats saying they trust Biden a great deal or moderately, compared with 46% of independents and just 13% of Republicans.
Another poll done by WaPo/ABC came to a similar discovery although the sample size was smaller than CNN’s:
Forty-one percent approve of President Biden’s handling of the war between Israel and Hamas, and the same share approve of his handling of the Ukraine conflict.
For comparison, about one third or fewer Americans approve of Biden’s handling of domestic issues like crime (33%), gun violence (32%), inflation (29%), immigration and the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border (26%).
Another observation about these polls is that the American people understand the difference between the residents stuck in Gaza under the thumb of a violent group and Hamas extremists. It also shows that the extreme pro-Hamas supporters in the USA blaming Israel for the attack are a tiny group.
