President Biden’s staunchly pro-Israel stance has turned off young voters who increasingly side with Palestinians in the Middle East conflict and now threaten to make Mr. Biden pay at the ballot box next year.
Those voters are among a growing faction in the Democratic Party that views Israel as the villain of the conflict and a colonizer of indigenous Palestinians. They are angry with Mr. Biden for sending weapons to Israel what they say is not enough humanitarian aid to Hamas-controlled Gaza and for not backing calls for a cease-fire.
Pro-Palestinian protesters at demonstrations across the country have chanted, “Biden, Biden you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide” or simply “F—- Joe Biden.” On Saturday, protesters vandalized a White House fence with red-paint handprints and attempted to cover it with Palestinian flags.
The profane chants are the latest warning sign that Mr. Biden’s base is starting to unravel as he enters a tough reelection campaign.
“You don’t want to see any erosion of support because we live in an era where presidential elections are going to be razor-thin,” said Lis Smith, a Democratic strategist. “No one, whether it’s Donald Trump or Joe Biden, can afford a big erosion of their base.”
Young voters, who historically lean Democrat, played a critical role in sending Mr. Biden to the White House in 2020. While they were already disillusioned with Mr. Biden before war erupted in the Middle East, their frustration has accelerated in the past month as pro-Palestine protests take hold of college campuses.
A recent Washington Post/ABC News survey found that former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the GOP nomination, is leading Mr. Biden by more than 20 points among voters under the age of 35. A New York Times/Siena College poll had slightly better news for Mr. Biden, finding that he leads Mr. Trump among voters under 30, but only by a single percentage point.
It’s an indication that Mr. Biden’s base is fraying. He’s also hemorrhaging support among the Democratic Party’s core constituency — Black, Hispanic and urban voters. While those voters are unlikely to flock to Mr. Trump, they could stay home or back a third-party candidate.
Progressive groups focused on mobilizing young voters have warned Mr. Biden that his pro-Israel stance could depress turnout on Election Day.
A coalition of groups focused on issues ranging from gun violence prevention to climate change told Mr. Biden in a letter that he could expect retribution if he continued supporting Israel and did not immediately call for a cease-fire.
“We mobilized the record youth turnout in 2020 that pushed your ticket over the finish line,” the letter said. “There is no way for a Democratic presidential nominee to win without significant youth voter enthusiasm and mobilization.”
“We did not spend hours upon hours knocking on doors and making calls to turn out the vote so that you could support the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians and violations of international law,” it said. “Your legacy hangs in the balance.”
Mr. Biden has rejected calls for a cease-fire.
In the letter, the groups, which included March for Our Lives, United We Dream and Gen Z for Change, said failing to demand a cease-fire in Gaza is “a moral and political disaster.”
A Quinnipiac poll released last week found that 75% of respondents believe supporting Israel is in the national interest, but only 52% of adults under 35 agreed and only 21% approved of Mr. Biden’s handling of the war.
In response to rapidly escalating criticism from his party’s pro-Palestine wing, Mr. Biden called for humanitarian aid for Gaza and pressured Israel to take a brief pause in attacks to allow civilians to evacuate.
Thousands of Palestinians have died amid relentless air attacks and a ground invasion by Israel in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist raid on Israel that killed 1,400 people in Israel.
Hamas reported that 11,000 Palestinians have died in the Israeli attacks on Gaza.
Mr. Biden on Monday urged Israel to take “less intrusive” measures in Gaza and warned that hospitals in the territory should be off limits.
“Well, as we know, I have not been reluctant expressing my concerns with what’s going on,” Mr. Biden told reporters.
The shift in tone has not placated Mr. Biden’s critics.
On Tuesday, more than 400 political appointees and staff from dozens of federal agencies sent a letter to Mr. Biden urging him to call for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.
The letter is a remarkable show of dissent within the administration to the president’s approach to the conflict. It included signatories from more than 40 agencies, including the FBI and the National Security Council.
“We call on President Biden to urgently demand a cease-fire; and to call for de-escalation of the current conflict by securing the immediate release of the Israeli hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinians; the restoration of water, fuel, electricity and other basic services; and the passage of adequate humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip,” the letter said.
The letter is one of several written by administration staff members in opposition to Mr. Biden’s approach to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
To push back on the internal dissent, White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates highlighted a separate letter from former Biden and Obama administration officials that offered support for Mr. Biden’s strategy.
The letter, which was shared with CNN, was signed by former Biden Chief of Staff Ron Klain, former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, three members of Congress,18 former ambassadors and others.
“We are writing to express our deep appreciation for your moral clarity, courageous leadership, and staunch support of Israel, one of our nation’s strongest allies, in the aftermath of the worst massacre of Jewish people in a single day since the Holocaust,” the letter said.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.