But the poll also found that almost half of voters disapprove of his handling of the war
More than two-thirds of voters said President Joe Biden’s support for Israel will not affect who they vote for in the 2024 election, according to a new poll released exclusively to The Messenger.
In a poll released by the Democratic Majority for Israel, 68%, said Biden’s support for Israel won’t matter to their vote choice. In addition, 17% of voters said Biden’s support for Israel would make them more likely to vote for him, while a slightly lower percentage, 15%, said they are less likely to support Biden because of his stance.
Among Jewish Americans, 44% said they are more likely to vote for Biden because of his backing of Israel.
Overall, 62% of voters said they have a favorable view of Israel. When asked if they want the U.S. to support Israel in the war, 67% said they did. Just 25% have an unfavorable view of Israel, and a slim 5% think the U.S. should be supporting Hamas in the war.
Mark Mellman, president and CEO of Democratic Majority for Israel, an advocacy group that promotes pro-Israel policies among the Democratic Party, said the poll shows Biden’s stance in supporting Israel “isn’t having a significant electoral impact at the moment.”
“Could it in the future, depending on how it develops? I guess the answer is yes, it could,” Mellman said. “But even in the white heat of this conflict, we’re not seeing a significant electoral impact.”
Biden is slumping in polling, hitting a low point this week in a Monmouth University poll, where his approval rating stood at 34%. A New York Times/Siena College poll published this week also found only 33% of voters approve of Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, while 57% said they disapprove.
The Democratic Majority for Israel poll found that only 29% of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of the war, while 48% disapprove.
Of those who disapprove of Biden’s handling of the war, the survey found that 13% disapprove of Biden’s handling of the conflict because he supports Israel too much and 16% disapprove because they believe Biden supports the Palestinians too much.
An equal number say which side the President supports is unrelated to their negative assessment of his performance on the war.
“The people who are arguing that President Biden’s support for Israel is having negative political consequences are just flat out wrong,” Mellman said. “There’s absolutely no evidence of negative consequences whatever.”
There were 1,637 registered voters surveyed in interviews conducted online from December 7-12. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.4%. In addition, 664 Jewish Americans were surveyed for the poll, with a margin of error of 3.8%.