Tue 19 December 2023:
A new poll by The New York Times and Siena College shows strong American disapproval of US President Joe Biden’s handling of the Gaza conflict.
Over half of the poll’s respondents (57 percent) object to Biden’s handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Only 38 percent say they trust Biden to do a better job managing the crisis than ex-President Trump.
The Times/Siena poll surveyed about 1,000 voters from Dec. 10-14, with a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.
Young voters are the most critical of Biden, with nearly three-quarters of those between the ages of 18 and 29 disapproving of the president’s policies in the region, according to the poll.
Biden’s staunch backing and supply of weapons to Israel during the Gaza war, which has killed more than 19,000 trapped Palestinians, has left many progressive Democrats with a tough choice heading into next year’s presidential elections.
Pressure has mounted on the Biden administration and Israel to implement a cease-fire in order to assist civilians in Gaza. Last week, just eight nations joined the U.S. and Israel in the United Nations to vote against a resolution calling for a cease-fire.
About 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, with about 70 percent of the dead being women and children. Nearly the entirety of the territory’s 2.3 million population has been displaced from their homes and requires humanitarian assistance, according to the U.N.
In recent weeks, the Biden administration has pressured the Israeli government to slow its military advance into southern Gaza in order to limit civilian casualties, though the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has shown few signs of heeding that advice.
The killing of three Israeli hostages by the IDF on Saturday again raised tensions inside the country, where many Israelis urged their government to focus the return of the estimated 100 hostages still being kept by Hamas in Gaza, instead of a broader military operation.
