President Joe Biden’s most concerning pro-Palestinian protests in terms of politics could be in Georgia, a state that helped him win the White House four years ago.
Biden is facing major backlash from young voters over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war. The pro-Palestine movement has swept college campuses since October, and last week, the student-led demonstrations made national headlines after the clearing of a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” at Columbia University ignited solidarity protests across the nation.
The outrage over Biden’s response to the Middle East crisis has threatened his support from young voters, a key voting group for Democrats. Nearly 60 percent of voters aged 18 to 29 voted for Biden in the 2020 election, and 61 percent of college grads backed him, a Pew Research analysis found.
After its importance to Biden’s victory in 2020, Georgia will be a critical state to watch in this November’s race. But even though the state has become more blue in recent years, voting registration data from the Secretary of State’s Office shows that Gen Z voters could pose a problem for Biden in the Peach State.
Georgians between the ages of 18 and 24 account for the highest number of registered voters in any age group, the secretary of state’s election data hub shows. As of Sunday, 873,556 registered voters are in the youngest age category. The second highest age group is 30 to 34, with 789,203 registered voters, followed by those aged 25 to 29, with 775,901 registered voters.
By comparison, there are only 673,703 registered voters aged 75 to 100 and just 435,274 registered voters in the 70 to 74 category.
Audrey Haynes, an associate political science professor at the University of Georgia, told Newsweek that the significant number of young voters who have registered in the state is the result of two efforts. One came from Democrat Stacey Abrams during her bid for the governor’s office, and the other was from former Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler’s work with Greater Georgia, a political organization.
It’s particularly difficult in Georgia to know how voters will cast their ballots because there is no party affiliation data.
“Most young voters tend to [trend] progressive but certainly not all, and in Georgia the more difficult question is that even Republican young voters may love Governor Kemp, for example but not support Trump. So predicting is more difficult,” Haynes said.
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In Georgia, pro-Palestine demonstrations have been held at Emory University, Kennesaw State University, Georgia Tech, the University of Georgia and Georgia State University. Several student protesters have been arrested.
A CNN poll released Sunday found that 81 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds disapprove of the way Biden has handled the conflict in the Middle East—his highest disapproval rating on the issue across any age group. And although Donald Trump leads Biden by only 5 points overall, he leads Biden by a whopping 11 percent among voters aged 18 to 34.
But the bigger issue is that young voters could just stay home this year.
“The question [is] whether a significant portion will vote for Biden—and in national polls this age group has a very significant preference for Biden over Trump—or turn out to vote generally,” Haynes said.
“While polls find that younger voters are distressed and angry about the Biden administration’s efforts in dealing with the war in the Middle East, by November things may have changed, either diminishing their ire or increasing it,” she said. “Either way, Biden still needs every vote in Georgia to win. Every vote.”
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.