Gaza, Students, and the Election

Our latest book is titled Divided We Stand: The 2020 Elections and American Politics.  The 2024 race has begun.  The Gaza war is politically dangerous for Biden -- though perhaps not as much as it seemed earlier this year.

Sareen Habeshian at Axios:

College protests against Israel's war in Gaza are dominating headlines. But only a sliver of students are participating or view it as a top issue, according to a new Generation Lab survey shared exclusively with Axios.

Why it matters: The poll hints that the war — and the accompanying protests — might not hurt President Biden's election prospects among young voters as much as previously thought.

By the numbers: Only a small minority (8%) of college students have participated in either side of the protests, the survey of 1,250 college students found.Students ranked the conflict in the Middle East as the least important issue facing them out of nine options.

It landed behind health care reform, racial justice and civil rights, economic fairness and opportunity, education funding and access, and climate change.

What they found: The survey found that three times as many college students blame Hamas for the current situation in Gaza than they do President Biden.Some 34% blame Hamas, while 19% blame Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 12% blame the Israeli people and 12% blame Biden.

Zoom in: A large majority (81%) of students support holding protesters accountable, agreeing with the notion that those who destroyed property or vandalized or illegally occupied buildings should be held responsible by their university, per the survey.A majority also said they oppose the protest tactics: 67% say occupying campus buildings is unacceptable and 58% say it's not acceptable to refuse a university's order to disperse.

Another 90% said blocking pro-Israel students from parts of campus is unacceptable.

The other side: Students were still more likely to say they support the pro-Palestininan encampments than oppose them.45% said they support them either strongly or a little bit. 30% were neutral, and 24% were strongly or a bit opposed.