President Joe Biden’s support for the Israeli military offensive in Gaza mixed with student anger over police crackdowns on anti-war campus protests are complicating the work of Democratic youth groups trying to engage classmates and other Generation Z voters ahead of this year’s election.
“If I’m talking about electric vehicles and climate change, and then (a student) asks me, ‘What about all the emissions caused by the bombing of Gaza?’ I’m like, well, you know, can’t help you there,” said Hasan Pyarali, the president of the College Democrats chapter at Wake Forest University in North Carolina and the national group’s Muslim caucus chair.
“Same thing with abortion access. And as an organizer, going in with those set of facts is so difficult that a lot of the times I’m like, ‘Yeah, you’re right,’” he said.
In his most pointed remarks to date, Biden on Thursday condemned what he referred to as “disorder” in the demonstrations, emphasizing reports of antisemitic intimidation on campuses. He said he supported “the right to protest, but not the right to cause chaos.” Asked if the protests had led him to change his thinking on the conflict, the president answered, “No.”
Israel’s monthslong bombardment of Gaza, launched in response to Hamas’ deadly cross-border attacks on October 7, has killed more than 34,600 people, according to the enclave’s health ministry, and the threat of starvation looms.
The dire situation on the ground in Gaza, which many young Americans are routinely exposed to in real-time through social media apps like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, has emerged as a significant concern for many Democratic organizations, liberal outside groups and other Biden allies worried about youth voter turnout in the 2024 election.
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