Young voters supporting Donald Trump over Joe Biden makes me catch my breath. How is it possible that an indicted insurrectionist who lies routinely has such support among young people? Have our young people lost their collective minds?
But yet here is the latest headline. Nate Cohn, chief political analyst for The New York Times, asks “How Much Is Biden’s Support of Israel Hurting Him with Young Voters?”
Cohn notes that according to a brand-new New York Times/Siena College national survey, Trump now leads Joe Biden among young voters 49% to 43%. Complicating the picture is a dramatic generational gap.
In the current war in the Middle East, voters ages 65 and older sympathize with Israel more than Palestinians by a nearly six to one margin. That level of support slowly decreases among each age group until it reaches young Americans. A near majority of registered voters ages 18 to 29 (46%) sympathize more with Palestinians.
This alone represents a stark change in American support for Israel. What remains to be seen is whether young voters also are attracted to the rising antisemitism in the United States. It’s one thing to criticize the government of Israel as even many Jews in Israel are doing in daily protests. A darker, more sinister demon arises when the discussion shifts to antisemitism.
Two-thirds (67%) of young Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 believe Jews as a class are oppressors and should be treated as oppressors, according to a new poll conducted by Harris Insights and Analytics and Harvard University’s Center for American Political Studies. Fifty-one percent of 18- to 24-year-olds believe the long-term answer for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is for “Israel to be ended and given to Hamas and the Palestinians.”
Among Americans between the ages of 18 and 24, some 73% also said they think the Hamas attack on Israel was a terrorist attack and three-fourths (66%) said it was genocidal in nature, but 60% also said it could be justified by the grievances of Palestinians.
Evidence suggests current support for Trump over Biden may have more to do with frustration than it does with young people believing Trump would help the Palestinians. Trump initially criticized Israeli leadership over the Hamas terrorist attacks on Oct. 7 but since has reiterated his support for the country. He has insisted he would take a much harder line against Iran, which has long backed the military wing of Gaza’s governing body but has suggested the Israel-Hamas conflict will have to play out.
Trump also moved the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, fulfilling a pledge to evangelical Christians in America who are among the most strident supporters of both the Jewish people and the state of Israel.
The Biden administration’s approach to the war has given growing support for humanitarian aid pauses that in part also allow for civilians to leave Gaza for safer places. Trump has said he would reject refugees from Gaza from entering the United States, and he has called for ideological screenings for those entering the country.
The issue for young people, then, does not seem to be a serious consideration of policies. More emotional issues seem to be in play.
The anti-Biden surge relates directly to an “extraordinarily negative view of Israel’s recent conduct.”
According to Jonathan Weisman, Ruth Igielnik and Alyce McFadden, the anti-Biden surge relates directly to an “extraordinarily negative view of Israel’s recent conduct.”
Young voters believe Israel is not doing enough to prevent civilian casualties in Gaza. In addition, they don’t believe Israel is interested in peace and think Isarel should end the war in Gaza, even if Hamas is not eliminated.
Opposition to the war itself is probably contributing to Biden’s unusual weakness among young voters.
A closer look at the survey of young people shows nonvoters are primarily responsible for the surge in Trump support. This represents a troubling trend. Nonvoters, by not voting, already have indicated a lack of support for democratic values. They are, like church members who never attend church, stuck on a voter roll somewhere, but have no meaningful engagement with democratic processes.
For young people to be disgusted by Israel’s invasion of Gaza makes sense, but why would this disgust lead to a switch from President Biden to support of the ex-president, Donald Trump?
Support for Trump among nonvoting young people may be the result of the uncanny ability of Trump to use his demagogic skills to entice support. Patricia Roberts-Miller, in her study of demagoguery, demonstrates the demagogue has no interest in advancing democratic deliberation. A demagogue uses rhetorical strategies like scapegoating and oversimplifying complicated situations to take advantage of the uninformed and disengaged.
Trump, more than any candidate in recent American politics, attracts the social media crowd. In The Twitter Presidency, Brian L. Ott and Greg Dickinson argue that Trump is effective as a communicator precisely by virtue of his ability to ignite a latent fund of frustration. In addition, they suggest Twitter is a uniquely effective tool for Trump by virtue of its medium-specific affordances in favor of simplicity, impulsivity and incivility.
Trump’s ability to garner support from the frustrated can be seen in his constant attacks against illegal immigrants. He has successfully scapegoated immigrants as “murderers,” “rapists,” “criminals” and “gang members.” He exudes a powerful sense of taking control and getting things done that people find hard to resist.
Add to this disturbing trend the results of a poll by The Economist that one in five young people believe the Holocaust is a myth.
Young people, frustrated by the actions of Israel and by Biden’s continued support of Israel, are an easy target for Trump’s performance rhetoric, his anti-hero persona and his ability to hijack the facts into a series of lies designed to benefit him.
“Young people, frustrated by the actions of Israel and by Biden’s continued support of Israel, are an easy target for Trump’s performance rhetoric.”
On the positive side, there are reasons for showing respect and attention to young people willing to express dissatisfaction with Israel’s conduct in Gaza. While I am reluctant to assert that young people are coalescing around a new “peace movement” reminiscent of the “anti-war” movement during the Vietnam War, I am encouraged when any demographic group stands against war. On this precise point, the young people may be smarter than the rest of the nation.
Cohn says: “Overall, Mr. Trump is winning 21% of young Biden ’20 voters who sympathize more with Palestinians than Israel, while winning 12% of other young Biden ’20 voters. In an even more striking sign of defections among his own supporters, Mr. Biden holds just a 64-24 lead among the young Biden ’20 voters who say Israel is intentionally killing civilians, compared with an 84-8 lead among the Biden ’20 voters who don’t think Israel is intentionally killing civilians.”
Of course, U. S. support of Israel is complicated by evangelical support of Israel, traditional support of Israel and by a fear of terrorism of any kind.
One can only hope that young people turning to Trump for help in ending Israel’s war in Gaza only conveys how deeply frustrated they are. The disturbing factors of rising antisemitism and increased belief that the Holocaust is a myth suggest we are losing ground in the social media age of propaganda, conspiracy theories, and demagogic rhetorical strategies.
I commend young people for opposing war. I am not as easily swayed by such responses that rely on simplicity, impulsivity and demagoguery. Perhaps there is hope here for a new peace and nonviolent gospel in our country. I can only react in horror that young people would seriously turn to the one person I believe is the embodiment of sheer evil in America, Donald Trump.
Israel and the United States need to make a new commitment to restoring trust in working for peace, democracy and the adjudication of the real needs of Palestinians in Gaza. This is no time to keep doing what we have always done in maintaining hegemonic control over others.
Rodney W. Kennedy is a pastor and writer in New York state. He is the author of 10 books, including his latest, Good and Evil in the Garden of Democracy.
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