The war between Hamas and Israel has divided the country, with many conservatives siding with Israel and many left-leaning voters pledging their support for Palestinians. Democratic President Joe Biden has repeatedly backed Israel, and in turn, received criticism from his constituents. We talked to USC student Talia, a senior communications major about how Biden’s stance might affect his campaign during the 2024 Presidential Election.
Many people who historically vote democrat never felt passionate about him to begin with. Rather, they felt he was a last-resort to avoid another Trump presidency. So, many of his voters were already apprehensive about Biden’s stances, and expected to disagree with him on many issues, even the war.
Talia: My opinion, my opinion is very different from Biden’s, but at the same time, I feel like I’ve always had pretty different opinions than he did. He used to work as a segregationist. So he’s never been somebody that I really wanted to support. But I voted for him, like literally out of fear of having Donald Trump in office. So it’s like lesser of two evils actually just turned out to be just as evil, you know.
But for many, including Talia, Biden’s support toward Israel was the last straw.
Talia: I think I mean, I think right now we’re seeing a really this is kind of been a catalyst for people being like, yeah, actually I never really supported that guy. I don’t support that guy and I won’t support him again. But I do think that among me and my friends, it’s been always kind of like, well, he said he would forgive student loans. He never did that. He said he would make efforts to improve just overall life for people. And he hasn’t done any of those things. So it’s kind of as if he’s had all these unfulfilled promises and now we’re seeing that he can send $14 billion to Israel no problem.
Voters have already vowed to abstain from re-electing Biden in 2024. This is especially apparent on Biden’s Instagram page. Talia scrolled through the comments on Biden’s most recent post and shared her impressions.
Talia: I think it’s going to hurt him a lot. When he posted something on his Instagram. All of the comments were like, we’re not voting for you. I can’t support you anymore. I can’t believe you do all these things. Literally, almost every single comment I saw was pretty anti-Biden at this point in time.
Next year, voters will visit the ballot remembering Biden’s stance regarding the war between Israel and Hamas. Talia believes that former Republican President Donald Trump might have the upper hand following recent global events.
Talia: Trump does have a pretty he’s kind of antiwar like on a very, very soft note, I think he’s a little more antiwar. And it’s mostly to protect his own economic interests because, war is expensive, you know?
In a party whose young people overwhelmingly support Palestine, Biden will have to find a way to regain the support of his gen-z voters. Based on how the last month has gone, it appears that continuing to send money to Israel may not be the best way.
For Annenberg Media, I’m Nolan Ezzet.