I’m not even going to bother to report on the results of the Harvard/Harris poll regarding the presidential race. If the results hold up Joe Biden is going to be spending a lot more time in Delaware.
The cake is not fully baked, of course, but if the election were held today a lot of dead voters would have to be recruited to overcome Trump’s apparent lead. And, while I understand the concern about ballot boxes being stuffed and vote harvesting tipping the balance, there is a margin beyond which you can’t cheat, and we are likely approaching, at, or even beyond it.
Things can and do change, but if the polls look like this in November, not even the MSM will buy a surprise Biden victory. I think.
But there are noteworthy things in the poll, the biggest of which is Americans’ attitudes toward Israel. Despite all the propaganda pumped out against Israel, Americans still firmly backed the Jewish state.
NEW
HARVARD HARRIS POLL:
-A STRONG MAJORITY (74%) OF VOTERS THINKS ISRAEL SHOULD MOVE FORWARD WITH AN OPERATION IN RAFAH
– CLOSE TO 3 IN 4 OF VOTERS ARE NOW FOLLOWING THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR CLOSELY
-VOTERS CONTINUE TO STRONGLY SUPPORT ISRAEL OVER HAMAS, AND 7 IN 10 FEEL… pic.twitter.com/7j2f45F0fz
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) May 21, 2024
You’d never know it if all you did was watch the steady stream of videos showing upset protesters, the MSM parroting Hamas talking points, or the focus on discord within the Biden administration regarding the Israel-Hamas war.
But if you actually measure Americans’ attitudes, it’s clear that we know who is good and who is evil in this dispute.
As the controversy has heated up, interest in the conflict has risen, suggesting that opinions aren’t just kneejerk reactions. People at least claim to know what is going on, although few claim to be obsessed with the conflict.
We keep being told that Israel is committing genocide and starving the Gazans, but Americans aren’t buying what Hamas supporters are selling. 80% of Americans support Israel in the conflict and 70% think Israel is being discriminating in their warfare.
Good. So do I. I was beginning to worry that public opinion was getting ready to shift dramatically against Israel. Perhaps I was wrong.
It happens. Rarely, of course, but I am occasionally wrong.
Contrary to what you might think given Biden’s wavering and insistence on a ceasefire, Americans want to see the hostages released before any ceasefire. Twice as many people want Israel to relent before the hostages are released, while Biden pretty much ignores the hostages.
This may be one of the significant problems Biden faces: his base is seriously split, which ensures that anything he does enrages some part of his coalition. Trump does not have that trouble. You can assume most of the people who want a ceasefire are Biden voters. Democrats as a whole back Israel on this by a small margin, but younger voters–at least many of them–hate the country (and Jews) with a passion as hot as the interior of the sun.
Voters, contra Biden, want Israel to go into Rafah and root out Hamas. Giving up now is exactly the wrong thing, and Americans seem to understand that.
This shouldn’t shock us, although it’s obviously contrary to the steady drumbeat we see in the media. It’s just common sense. Hamas is an existential threat. You have to eliminate them.
If only Biden understood that, or cared to think about it. But he is worried about votes in Dearborn.
Unsurprisingly, a lot of Americans who support Israelis defending themselves are less excited about providing aid–they don’t think it’s our war–but they also realize that Biden is emboldening Hamas by talking about cutting off aid. A strong majority still support aid–57%–but not quite as large a number as support a Rafah operation (74%).
There’s a lot more in the poll, and I encourage you to peruse the entire thing.
And if you are interested in the Biden/Trump horserace and want to gloat, it makes for fun reading.