Biden is still dragging his feet on munitions aid to Israel, reportedly holding that and sensitive intelligence information over Israel’s head to pressure the country not to invade Rafah. On today’s Editors, Rich and Co. discuss why this approach is backfiring for Biden, and how it’s showing up in the polls.
“I don’t think there’s a strategy here,” says Noah. “I think they’re looking at domestic polls, freaking out about them per the campaign pollster that we were just talking about [Jeffrey Pollock], who’s obsessed with the young people — the young voters, African-American voters, Hispanic voters — that they think are all hinging on this issue, whereas the polling doesn’t suggest that young voters are actually voting on this issue.”
“It’s total alienation from Biden,” Michael says. “I think also in the older voters, that sentiment is driven by the fact that Biden looks like he’s being driven by his crazies — or at least he’s being bridled by them in some way. And I think that makes voters very nervous. I think it’s part of this ongoing alienation between Biden and what I would call the anti-populist coalition.”
Michael points out that Biden is “breaking up the people who want the adults in charge in the room. And he’s doing it by letting 24-year-olds set policy on student loans or on Palestine.”
Does this look unpromising for Biden? Michael says yes, “I think it’s hugely significant in that it has energized the radical Left at a time when the public has kind of lost patience with wokeism in general and kind of thinks this trend should be over.”
The Editors podcast is recorded on Tuesdays and Fridays every week and is available wherever you listen to podcasts.