SNA (Galesburg) — Polling reveals that half of the US citizens who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 believe that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. However, many seem to either support the genocide or, at least, don’t view the Biden administration’s backing of a genocide as a disqualification to receive a second presidential vote.

According to an Economist/YouGov poll conducted from January 21-23, 50% of 2020 Biden voters agreed with the statement that “Israel is committing genocide against Palestinian civilians.” Only 20% disagreed, and the rest were unsure. Overall, the young, ethnic minorities, and those who regard themselves as liberals believe that a genocide is in progress. Older, white, and conservative Americans are most likely to reject the notion that Israel is committing genocide.

One might think that the US president offering full and unconditional support to a genocide would cross a bright red moral line for all but a handful of Americans, making a leader toxic and unelectable. However, the same poll suggests that many Democrats effectively say, yes, it’s a genocide that the Biden administration is backing, but they still endorse him.

Asked their opinion on Joe Biden’s performance as a whole, 79% of 2020 Biden voters see him favorably.

To put it another way, among this group of people, there are 29% who understand Israel to be committing a genocide but nevertheless have a favorable view of the president who is now protecting Israel in international forums such as the United Nations, providing weapons used to kill Palestinian civilians, and enabling the genocide to go forward day by day.

Within the Biden administration itself, there are reportedly advisors counseling the president that most Arab-Americans and Muslim Americans will still be willing to vote for Biden in November, even if they are quite angry now. They think that the “Abandon Biden” movement, for example, is essentially a bluff.

Obviously, the major factor why many Democrats and liberals remain willing to vote for Biden is that his opponent is likely to be Donald Trump, whom most of them fear and despise. There are those who contend that they will do “anything” to contribute to Trump’s defeat, which is nearly their sole focus. The polling suggests that included in this “anything” is to vote for an incumbent president whom they acknowledge is assisting another nation to perpetrate a genocide in front of the outraged eyes of the world.

In this context, some argue Biden’s policy on Gaza should be overlooked because a reelected Trump is likely to try to reinstitute the 2017 “Muslim Ban” on entry to the United States. While it is undeniable that both major political parties endorse abusive and discriminatory policies, actively endorsing the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians and displacing millions from their homes, as compared to the Muslim Ban, is objectively more egregious than anything Trump did during his entire four-year term, including January 6.

Nevertheless, it would seem that even genocide has become tolerable to many US Democrats in 2024, so long as Trump is stopped. But if they don’t draw a moral line at providing active support for genocide, where do they draw it?

This article was originally published on February 5, 2023, in the “Japan and the World” newsletter. Become a Shingetsu News supporter on Patreon and receive the newsletter by email each Monday morning.