Young people turn on ‘Genocide Joe’ over his cease-fire stance: 'Biden absolutely sucks'
Multiple young voters at the University of Michigan told The Washington Post they did not want to vote for President Biden in 2024 because of his support for Israel.
Young Democratic Party voters are reportedly reconsidering supporting President Biden’s re-election in 2024 thanks to his commitment to support Israel’s war effort against Hamas.
The Washington Post recently spoke to several University of Michigan voters who claimed they might support a candidate other than Biden due to the issue, with one voter telling the outlet that she and her friends now refer to the world leader as "Genocide Joe" because of his support for Israel.
One voter the Post spoke to was Bhavani Iyer, a senior at the school who supports abortion access, but is now conflicted over the idea of voting for Biden in 2024.
The Post reported: "… she said she doesn’t know if she will support President Biden’s reelection bid next November. One of her top priorities is protecting access to abortion, but her disapproval of Biden’s handling of the Israel-Gaza war and his decision not to call for a full cease-fire weighs just as heavily on her mind these days."
"In past elections, I voted a straight ticket. But in this one, I feel like it’s probably not going to be that way," Iyer told the paper.
The Post described her friends’ positions on the issue as being similar.
Nineteen-year-old Andrea Gonzalez told the Post that Trump's "controversial rhetoric" about women, immigrants and people of color are disdainful, but Biden's lack of support for a cease-fire makes it "difficult" where she leans.
Pakistani-American student Humza Irfan said the war caused his support for Biden to diminish.
The Post noted this feeling is "emblematic" of many Gen Z and millennial Democratic Party voters now.
"But conversations with more than a dozen students here underscore that Biden’s handling of the war threatens to diminish enthusiasm for him among young voters ahead of the 2024 election, with many students and other young people divided on how they will use their vote and their organizing power," the article noted.
The article pointed to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll that found 48% of Gen Z and millennial respondents considered Israel's military response to be "too much." Overall, 38% of the public shared the same sentimient.
It also cited FOX News, Marist College and Quinnipiac University polls showing disapproval of Biden's management of the situation among a majority of young adults.
"After what’s happening right now in the Middle East, it’s a very difficult decision for people from my background who we’re going to be voting for," Irfan told the Post.
Another student, Breah Marie Willy, told the outlet she had been excited to vote for Biden in 2024, but his reneging on certain climate initiatives and resistance to an Israel-Hamas cease-fire changed her mind. The president’s latter position led to her and her friends calling Biden "Genocide Joe," she told the Post.
"I just can’t see how I can ever muster up the courage a year from now to walk to a ballot box and vote for this person that has directly been responsible for so much harm," former "Bernie Bro" Joesph Fisher reportedly told the Post.
Twenty-two-year-old student Zaynab Elkolaly added: "The general sentiment [on campus] towards Joe Biden is that he absolutely sucks. But we have to put up with him because his alternative is even worse."
Gen-Z for Change mobilization coordinator Jack Petocz commented on this growing displeasure with Biden among youth, telling the Post: "I’ve never seen this kind of frustration and energy from my generation before."
However, some believe young voters will still turn out for Biden, despite his commitment to Israel. University of Michigan College Democrats member Nate Aurbach said: "I think that a lot of young people are stepping back and taking a break and don’t necessarily want to say right now that they’d support Joe Biden, but I think as 2024 comes around, they’ll be forced to see what Donald Trump is saying."
"And I think that that will genuinely scare a lot of people, as it should because what he’s saying is scary," he added.
The Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
