WASHINGTON, D.C. – After narrowly backing Israel’s military action in Gaza in November, Americans now oppose the campaign by a solid margin. Fifty-five percent currently disapprove of Israel’s actions, while 36% approve.

  • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    I’ve been preaching that centrist stance for a while. You and I have tangled over it before.

    But public sentiment is definitely changing.

    I still think that taking a strong stance against Israel will harm Biden more than help.

    But that might not be true for much longer. If this trend continues, then what you’ve been wrong about before will become right.

    • NoneOfUrBusiness@kbin.social
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      8 months ago

      I still think that taking a strong stance against Israel will harm Biden more than help.

      I actually don’t understand this stance. Pro-Israel people tend to be one of these groups:

      1-People who simply grew up with the propaganda and are still believing it. These lost the majority of democratic voters recently, and they’re only decrease more, but more importantly to them this isn’t an election-deciding issue. I think we can agree that this group doesn’t care as much about Israel as they do about Trump not becoming president. There’s just not much for them at stake.

      2-Zionist Jews. This is usually pointed to as the demographic Biden will lose if he doesn’t support Israel, but the thing is: Jews are less likely to support Israel than the general population. If anything being tougher on Israel might win Biden Jewish votes.

      3-Evangelicals. These are the real deal here, but let’s face it: How many of these were voting democrat to begin with?

      Yes a very large number of people support Israel, but that’s not the number we need to worry about. The really important question is: How many people on either side will take it as an election-defining issue and how likely are those people to lose Biden the election? Given that losing Muslims alone is liable to make Biden lose, and he’s losing (mainly young) progressives on top of that, I think we can see the answer to that question.

      • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Given that losing Muslims alone is liable to make Biden lose

        How many Muslims do you think there are in the US??

        I think we can agree that this group doesn’t care as much about Israel as they do about Trump not becoming president. There’s just not much for them at stake.

        I don’t necessarily agree. As I said, that’s changing. But yes, the average, ill-informed, centrist voter until very recently would have very strong opinions about Biden not supporting Israel. Maybe not enough alone to sway a vote, but with such close sentiment already it would push a large number over the edge.

        • beardown@lemm.ee
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          8 months ago

          How many Muslims do you think there are in the US??

          Irrelevant question.

          A better question is - How many Muslims are in Michigan?

          And the answer to that is - Enough to flip the state, and therefore the election, to Trump.

          • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            Possibly. Another relevant question - how many white centrists in Wisconsin, Nevada, and Arizona?

            • NoneOfUrBusiness@kbin.social
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              8 months ago

              People who would vote for Trump because Biden chose not to support genocide? Probably not many. From what I understand real centrists are a dying breed.

              • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                From what I understand real centrists are a dying breed.

                Politically active centrists are a dying breed, because if they actually paid attention they wouldn’t be centrists.

                But somewhere between 1/2 and 1/3 of the country falls into the low-information voter category.

                • NoneOfUrBusiness@kbin.social
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                  8 months ago

                  I mean low-information voter is one thing, but I think even those people either understand that Trump is a threat to democracy or think that he’s their messiah who descended from the sky.

                  • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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                    8 months ago

                    It seems like that to us, because those are the types we’re exposed to. The low info voters don’t comment on political articles.

              • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                Not too many Russians in America, so I couldn’t say them, I know that’s so disappointing for you

                • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  I didn’t say “tell me what you call people you hate because they oppose genocide.”

    • beardown@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      Why are you bragging about being wrong?

      Particularly about being wrong about genocide?

    • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Speak of the devil.

      You managed to go 6 whole sentences without screaming that I’m a Russian because I oppose the genocide you love. I didn’t know you had it in you.