Inside the Democratic rebellion against Biden over the Gaza war
By Andrea Shalal, Nandita Bose and Kat Stafford
DEARBORN, Michigan — The depth of Democratic Party anger over President Joe Biden’s handling of the Gaza war has caught his campaign off guard and could depress support in November’s election, according to Reuters interviews with more than a dozen senior party and campaign officials and five dozen voters and activists.
The White House had expected Democratic unrest over Gaza to fade as Biden picked up his campaigning against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, the officials said.
Nine months before the election, the problem is worsening as Biden’s opposition to calling for a permanent cease-fire continues to stir anger in a coalition of voters that propelled his 2020 victory, from Black Americans to Muslim activists in must-win Michigan to young voters, according to the interviews.
Democrats have been broadly divided over Biden's vocal support of Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks that killed 1,200 Israelis, polls show. Some Jewish Americans, who largely vote for Democrats, have rallied behind Biden, a self-declared Zionist. Many younger Democrats and people of color oppose his approach, disturbed by a rising death toll from Israel’s retaliation in Gaza that tops 29,700, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Crucial parts of this coalition appear disillusioned, disappointed and angry.
In Michigan’s Democratic nominating contest on Tuesday, Arab-American activists who backed him in 2020 have vowed to withhold their support, urging primary voters to check «uncommitted» at the ballot box in an early litmus test for how Biden's handling of Gaza could hurt him in the swing state.
Hoping to address their frustrations, Biden administration officials met on Feb. 8 with
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