Democratic dissatisfaction with Biden’s Gaza war policy set to hurt him in election — poll

US Democrats are deeply divided over President Joe Biden’s handling of both the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and the anti-Israel US campus protests, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll has found, fraying the coalition that he relied on four years ago to defeat Republican Donald Trump.

Some 44% of Democratic registered voters responding to the May 7-14 poll say they disapprove of Biden’s handling of the crisis. Democrats who disapprove of his response are less likely to say they will vote for Biden in the November 5 election — no small concern given his tight rematch with Trump.

Overall, just 34% of registered voters approve of Biden’s handling of the war, including 53% of Democrats, 31% of independents and 22% of Republicans.

Among the registered Democrats who disapprove of Biden’s response to the Gaza conflict, about 77% say they will vote for him in November, compared to about 93% of those who approve of his Gaza response.

Some 38% of registered Democrats say they support the anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protests at US universities and cities, compared to 38% who say they do not. Registered independents lean against supporting the protests 58% to 23%, while Republicans overwhelmingly oppose the protests 81% to 8%.

Some 33% of Democrats agree with a statement that the protests reflect an antisemitic view, while 37% disagree. Some 45% of independents agree with that statement and 30% disagree. Some 67% of Republicans agree and 14% disagree.

The poll, conducted online, surveyed 3,934 US adults nationwide, including 3,208 registered voters. It had margins of error of about 2 percentage points for responses from all registered voters, about 3 points for registered Republicans and Democrats and about 4 points for independents.