President Joe Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war could be endangering Biden’s reelection in the “majority of 2024 swing states,” a report warned.
Axios reported that swing states Michigan, Virginia, Georgia, Arizona, and Pennsylvania all have notable pockets of Arab and Muslim Americans, who are angered by Biden’s handling of the war.
The report noted that “even tiny shifts of support in any of these super-tight states that Biden won in 2020 could make a difference.”
For example, the report states that Biden won by 154,000 votes in Michigan — below the state’s Arab American population of at least 278,000.
In Arizona, Biden reportedly won by 10,500 votes, well below the Arab American population of an estimated 60,000. The number of Arab Americans in Georgia is at least 57,000, and Biden only reportedly won by 11,800 votes. And the estimates of Arab Americans could be low, the report notes.
Axios quoted two Arab Americans, including the publisher of The Arab American News — the largest and oldest Arab American newspaper in the U.S.
“Unless Biden turns into Jesus Christ and brings some Palestinians back from the dead, we’re not supporting him. It’s over,” Osama Siblani said.
Why it matters: It’s another case of Biden facing possible defections from heavily Democratic groups that in 2020 helped him take down former President Donald Trump, Biden’s likely opponent again next year.
Like with young voters, Biden faces the prospect of having to devote time to saving part of his base in addition to courting swing voters.
Siblani said he was telling voters not to vote for a presidential candidate.
“Vote down-ballot, but don’t vote for Biden, and especially not for Trump,” he said. “Biden lost our vote, and you’re going see Michigan and Georgia change.”
Samia Assed, a Palestinian American peace activist in Albuquerque, told Axios she worries that some Arab Americans might not vote in 2024.
“It has been numbing to us. I feel very depressed,” she said.
Biden has leaned on Israel to implement temporary ceasefires to allow for the release of hostages and for aid to be delivered to Gaza. But Israel has shown no indication it will not continue its military campaign against Hamas for launching a mass terrorist attack inside Israel that killed more than 1,200 in one day.
He has also reportedly met with Arab American leaders and his administration has held “listening sessions” at various government agencies with upset staffers.
