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SUPPORTING ISRAEL - A Gallup survey released Thursday shows that U.S. President Joe Biden's approval rating among Democrats has fallen by 11 percentage points this month, a possible indication that his unconditional support for Israel as it carries out massacres in the Gaza Strip is angering part of his base.
In September, 86% of Democrats approved of Biden's job performance. But between October 2 and October 23, Biden's approval rating among Democrats has fallen to 75%, according to Gallup—the lowest level of his presidency.
Megan Brenan, a research consultant at Gallup, argued the survey results suggest that "Biden's immediate and decisive show of support for Israel following the October 7 attacks by Hamas appears to have turned off some in his own party."
As the death toll and humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsen by the hour, Muslim Americans are increasingly expressing outrage over the Biden administration's unwavering show of support for the Israeli government, which human rights groups and United Nations experts have accused of collective punishment and other war crimes.
"Joe Biden has single-handedly alienated almost every Arab-American and Muslim-American voter in Michigan," Democratic state Rep. Alabas Farhat toldNBC News over the weekend. Michigan is a critical battleground state that Biden won in 2020.
"The Biden administration and Democrats as a whole are going to have to do a lot of work to rebuild some level of trust with my community," added Farhat, who represents Dearborn, one of the largest Muslim- and Arab-American communities in the U.S. "It's never too late to do the right thing."
Last week, the Biden administration asked Congress to approve $14 billion in additional military assistance for Israel, despite warnings that he and other administration officials could be rendering themselves complicit in genocide.
Biden, who is running for reelection in 2024, has backed efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to Gazans under Israeli bombardment.
But he has thus far refused to call for a cease-fire and suggested he doesn't trust the Gaza Health Ministry's figures on the grisly death toll in the Palestinian territory—even though his own administration has repeatedly cited the data internally. Human rights experts say the ministry's figures have proven to be reliable.
NBC News reported Sunday that "in rolling conversations in Michigan and beyond over the past two weeks, Muslim elected officials, activists, and community leaders have coalesced around a plan to mobilize their constituents to vote next year—but also to encourage them to leave the top of the ticket blank in protest."
Survey results released last week by Data for Progress showed that two-thirds of likely U.S. voters—and 80% of Democrats—believe that "the U.S. should call for a cease-fire and deescalation of violence in Gaza" and "leverage its close diplomatic relationship with Israel to prevent further violence and civilian deaths."
But the Biden administration has responded dismissively to growing cease-fire demands from human rights groups, the United Nations, and members of his party.
"A cease-fire, right now, really only benefits Hamas," National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said during a press briefing earlier this week.
Kirby later said the Biden administration has not set or discussed any red lines with Israel as it prepares to invade the Gaza Strip after weeks of near-constant bombing.
(Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for CommonDreams.org where this article was first published.)
