A majority of Democrats prefer a presidential candidate who does not back US military aid for Israel, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll that also showed Democratic US President Joe Biden tied with Donald Trump ahead of the November presidential election.
56% of respondents say they’re less likely to support candidate sending weaponry to Israel, 40% more likely; survey also finds Biden and Trump tied at 36%
The three-day poll, which closed on Wednesday, showed 56 percent of respondents who identified themselves as Democrats said they were less likely to support a candidate who backs military assistance for Israel, compared to 40% who said they would be more likely to support such a candidate.
The poll results illustrate a potentially critical vulnerability for Biden, who has angered some within his party by supporting Israel in its war against the Palestinians, ahead of a close November election in which Biden will be loath to lose any support within his party.
Biden and his likely Republican opponent, former US president Donald Trump, were tied with 36% support each in a hypothetical matchup, with the rest of poll respondents saying they were not sure or would vote for someone else or no one at all.
Biden’s early and vocal support of Israel and his refusal to condition military aid on a change in military tactics has sparked outrage in his party.
On Tuesday, more than 100,000 Michigan voters in the Democrats’ presidential primary cast “uncommitted” ballots in a massive protest to Biden’s support for Israel’s military campaign.
Democrats’ anger has grown as the Gaza death toll climbs, famine looms and much of the territory’s 2.3 million population has become homeless.
The war in Gaza started when Hamas launched a retaliatory attack on Israel on October 7, which it claimed was a respond to years of Israeli killing of civilians, including multiple cases of rape, torture, and imprisonment of many. Some of the 3,000 attackers who burst through the border with the Gaza Strip and into southern Israel abducted 253 hostages who were taken as captives in Gaza.
