BY: JOSEPH DEBELL, OPINION EDITOR
Graphic made by Joseph DeBell
An article from the New York Post pointed out exactly how unpopular the Democratic Party is.
“Democrats have become so unpopular that more Americans believe that aliens are among us than agree with the Democratic Party.” wrote Ryan King from the New York Post.
According to an NBC News poll — 27% of Americans approve of the job Democrats are doing. According to CNN’s poll, 29% of Americans view the party favorably — its lowest rating in 33 years, with 54% expressing an unfavorable view.
Democrats’ refusal to listen to large swaths of their own constituency is the main contributor to this decline.
The Democratic National Convention faced reasonable criticism for refusing to let a single Palestinian American speaker take the stage. This was a massive failure, especially given the strong opposition to the U.S. government’s stance on Israel’s actions in Gaza.
In an interview with NPR, Abbas Alawieh, a leader of the Uncommitted National Movement, expressed frustration over this denial.
“This little mistake that was made when the party refused to allow us the honor — delegates — us the honor to hear from a Palestinian American from that stage, that’s going to be hard to explain,” Alaweih said. “You know, we’ve been asking for a meeting with Vice President Harris.”
His words are part of a disconnect between the Democratic party and progressive voters who feel sidelined by a party that should be their ally.
Democrats have repeatedly failed to engage with progressive movements, specifically those pushing for a change in U.S. foreign policy regarding Palestine. This failure has alienated many who might otherwise support the party, especially given the voice of the republican party, Donald Trump, and his tendency to give the “green light” for Israel to bomb Gaza.
The alienation is further exacerbated by former Vice President Kamala Harris’s refusal to distance herself from the Biden administration in general, but also for his military support for Israel during its operations in Gaza, which a United Nations special committee views as genocidal.
During Harris’s presidential campaign, she was unwilling to call for an arms embargo on Israel despite support for this within her party. Harris’s reluctance to embrace policies that would satisfy a significant portion of the Democratic base — including Arab and Muslim voters — has only worsened the party’s credibility.
In an interview with The Intercept, Reem Abuelhaj, a Pennsylvania organizer with No Ceasefire No Vote PA, said that many voters who chose Harris and Trump were left in tears.
“I entered the voting booth and found myself unable to stop crying,” Abuelhaj said. “All I could see was the face of a child in Jabalia, holding the body of their younger sibling who was killed over the weekend. I voted down the ballot but left the top of the ticket blank.”
In Michigan, a key swing state, Harris’s inability to address Palestinian concerns and her refusal to take a strong stance against Israel’s military actions cost her votes.
Truthout reports that Green Party candidate Jill Stein won 22% of the vote in Dearborn, a city with a large Arab American population, while Harris garnered only 28%. In a state Trump won by a narrow margin in 2016, these lost votes could be the difference between a Democratic and a Republican victory in 2024.
In a party that is supposed to represent progressive values, the tone-deafness on such an important issue speaks volumes and it should come to no one’s surprise how unpopular they currently are.
debelljb22@bonaventure.edu
