Discussions about Palestinian liberation and ending US Support of Israel are longstanding for much more than the past year. However it's prominence, and the memes too, gained significant traction in the past year because Israel became fully engaged in the genocide of Gaza, expanding into the West Bank and also Lebanon. This genocide has been funded with the unconditional military aid of the United States, as well as defense on the international stage.
Anti-genocide sentiments are not any right-wing disinformation campaign. These are voters who want an alternative to funding genocide, which is still happening under the current administration.
The right-wing disinformation campaign is that Trump is the dove candidate. This was the case in 2016 too, as a way to paint Hillary as a warmonger (She was, but of course so is Trump). This is exactly the reason why Trump spoke very little about Israel/Gaza for most of the campaign, only with comments like that he'll "end the wars" without details.
This kind of disinformation campaign, painting Trump as a Dove, is only possible because of the foreign policy of Biden on Israel and Harris' failure to break from that policy. Ending the war with a permanent ceasefire is overwhelmingly popular, an arms embargo is also very popular. These are also the correct actions under both the US Leahy Law and international humanitarian law.
Polling has indicated for months that Harris would gain. significant votes in swing states and nationally. The decision by the Harris campaign to ignore these voters / take them for granted was a calculated decision. This was a choice the campaign made.
This left people with the genocide as their main issue with the following choices: back Harris and hope that she will part from Biden or at least be persuaded by public pressure despite the lack of separation from the current Biden Administration on the issue, protest vote with a 3rd party, or hope that just maybe trump will actually bring a ceasefire unlike the current administration.
As someone who's not directly affected, it's easy to choose option 1. I voted for Harris and told others to vote Harris too, despite the ongoing military support for the genocide. However, this becomes a much more unclear and difficult choice for those who are directly affected. It's hard to make the rational decision to vote for Harris when not only your loved ones have been killed by Israel with US weapons, but also the lack of empathy and consideration of the Harris campaign throughout the genocide. Palestinian Americans were denied a voice at the DNC. Instead what they heard was steadfast support of Israel and rhetoric about having the most lethal Military. That continued throughout the campaign. Seeing half of the support from Arab and Muslim Americans compared to 2020 isn't a surprise when this is the reality they have experienced from the campaign.
I also want to emphasize that anti-genocide sentiment is not only an issue of Arab and Muslim Americans. Half of the Jewish community also wants a permanent ceasefire too. Most people do.
Many people online, including Lemmy, are acting reactionary on this and want to place the blame on these voters. I understand where it's coming from. People are angry and terrified of another Trump Administration, and rightfully so. But this blame is misplaced, it's the Biden/Harris 2024 campaign that made the decision to run their campaign like this, and it was a failed strategy. It was also much more than just this issue that reduced voter turnout. 20 million less people voted for Democrats this election. Anti-genocide protest votes are only a small fraction of that. They were also completely up for grabs, all it took was rhetoric about support for an arms embargo.
The campaign made many many mistakes by running to the right at the expense of their base, by not running on progressive policies that are popular with both Democratic and Republican voters. This is ultimately a problem of neoliberalism, which works at the behest of capital interests and against the interests of the working class.
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Our first matchup tested a Democrat and a Republican who “both agree with Israel’s current approach to the conflict in Gaza”. In this case, the generic candidates tied 44–44. The second matchup saw the same Republican facing a Democrat supporting “an immediate ceasefire and a halt of military aid and arms sales to Israel”. Interestingly, the Democrat led 49–43, with Independents and 2020 non-voters driving the bulk of this shift.
- Split Ticket (July 2024)
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In Pennsylvania, 34% of respondents said they would be more likely to vote for the Democratic nominee if the nominee vowed to withhold weapons to Israel, compared to 7% who said they would be less likely. The rest said it would make no difference. In Arizona, 35% said they’d be more likely, while 5% would be less likely. And in Georgia, 39% said they’d be more likely, also compared to 5% who would be less likely.
- New Poll Suggests Gaza Ceasefire and Arms Embargo Would Help Dems with Swing State Voters (Full YouGov Report) (May 2024)
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- Data For Progress Poll (May 2024)
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Majorities of Democrats (67%) and Independents (55%) believe the US should either end support for Israel’s war effort or make that support conditional on a ceasefire. Only 8% of Democrats but 42% of Republicans think the US must support Israel unconditionally.
Republicans and Independents most often point to immigration as one of Biden’s top foreign policy failures. Democrats most often select the US response to the war in Gaza.
