Biden's Israel policy, as unpopular here as elsewhere

Fifty-seven percent of registered voters now disapprove of Biden's job performance, which represents a fresh high (or low) for the president in (D) Hart Research and (R) Public Opinion Strategies's polling (B+), commissioned by NBC News.

Biden's downward shift appears to be attributable to his handling of the Israel-Hamas war, with disgruntlement coming particularly from Democrats and the typically aligned young. Writes NBC: "[A Democratic] majority ... believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza, and among voters ages 18 to 34, with a whopping 70% of them disapproving of Biden’s handling of the war." Overall, 62% disapprove of Biden's foreign policy. 

His advocacy of a humanitarian pause rather than cease-fire in Gaza agrees in large part with the vastly unpopular Bibi Netanyahu. This morning I quoted from The Washington Post, which had reported that "More than 100 countries ... have called for a full and immediate cease-fire," which Netanyahu deeply opposes. In place of the ellipsis was this: "but, notably, not the United States." Biden, even at home, is paying for his association with the prime minister's Gaza policy. 

For now, at least, the price is intolerably high. Also for the first time in NBC's polling, "Biden [is] behind former President Donald Trump ... in a hypothetical general-election matchup, although the deficit is well within the poll’s margin of error."

That passage is followed by the usual caveat that Election Day is still far away, so there is plenty of time for Biden to incrementally slip away from the electoral poison that are Bibi and his genocidal campaign in Gaza.

What would Trump in a second term do differently from Biden? That would be determined only by the degree of flattery issued by Israel's 2025 prime minister. Trump hasn't any more of a clue about foreign policy in general than he did about the history of Pearl Harbor.   

Comments

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At least one of his advisors had the presence of mind to hand him plumeria to throw at the Hawaiians instead of paper towels. Credit where it's due. Probably Frederick Douglas.