Democratic views on how President Joe Biden is handling the decades-old conflict between Israelis and Palestinians have rebounded slightly, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The shift occurred during a time in which Biden and top U.S. officials expressed increased concern about civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip, emphasized the need for a future independent Palestinian state and helped secure the release of hostages held by Hamas during a temporary truce.

Fifty-nine percent of Democrats approve of Biden’s approach to the conflict, a tick up from 50% in November. His latest standing is roughly equivalent to Democrats’ 57% approval rating for him on the issue in an August poll, conducted well before the latest war began on Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked Israel.

Still, the issue remains divisive among Democrats, who are less enthusiastic about Biden’s handling of the war than his overall job performance. Seventy-five percent of Democrats said Biden is doing well as president, also up slightly from 69% last month. His approval rating among U.S. adults stands at 41%.

  • brvslvrnst
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    6 months ago

    Fair point! In that case, how about “uncaringly” bombing? No matter how you swing it, they are taking a hammer to a population.

    “Go south”, bomb. “Go north”, bomb.

    And just to also address that, 0.6% has died because of this. Another fair stat, but hides the actual number of 15k+. This all kicked off due to a horrific attack that killed 1.5k.

    Whether or not it reaches the legal definition of a genocide is effectively moot when the civilian population is getting decimated in a short amount of time. Placing the people killed behind a percentage, for me, turns a bunch of suffering into "oh it’s not that bad " because you are excluding the injured, the family of those individuals who have died, and a whole swath of destruction that a larger group is never coming back from.

    I’m not trying to change your mind, because this is the internet lol I’m just pointing that there is more to the anger and frustration outside of the general statistics, which are equally a valid way to look at the whole thing.

    • SCB@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      In that case, how about “uncaringly” bombing? No matter how you swing it, they are taking a hammer to a population.

      Totally agreed. I don’t support the bombing campaign as it has been prosecuted by Israel. I think it is a very poor choice.

      And just to also address that, 0.6% has died because of this. Another fair stat, but hides the actual number of 15k+. This all kicked off due to a horrific attack that killed 1.5k.

      I specifically address this in my comparison to Mosul, in which a similar amount of civilians died, while being 20% as dense as Gaza. The US was clearly not aiming to maximize civilian casualties in Mosul.

      My entire point here is not “bombing civilians is fine,” but “war kills civilians, which is why war is bad, and there is zero evidence that this is genocide.”

      This situation sucks and the outpouring of pure rage-bombing from Israel is completely stupid, immoral, and counter-productive. It is not genocide, nor is it indiscriminate.

      On a personal note, thank you for engaging with me as a person. I can pretty much guarantee I’m gonna catch a lot of really offensive and personal attacks for saying true things here, and I thank you for not being part of that.

      • brvslvrnst
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        6 months ago

        ❤️ thank you as well! Have a great day / night!