Voters Now More In Favor Of Biden's Handling Of Middle East Conflict, Did '60 Minutes' Appearance Help?

A new survey showed American voters might be more approving of the handling of the Middle East conflict by President Joe Biden, as the battle between Israel and Hamas reached 20 days.

What Happened: A war between Israel and the Hamas militant group broke out in the Middle East and was drawing in the involvement of the U.S. and other countries as they sought to stop the battle from escalating.

While many voters were not in favor of the reaction by the U.S. and President Biden, support for the president increased over the past two weeks.

A new poll from Morning Consult showed 42% of voters approved of Biden's handling of the Middle East Conflict, while 43% disapproved.

While the 42% approval might not jump out as a positive, it was a large improvement from the 35% of voters who approved of Biden's handling in the same poll two weeks ago. The disapproval rate of 43% stayed the same, with the gain coming from voters who previously answered don't know.

Here's a look at the poll results by political party of Biden's handling of the Middle East conflict, with the results from two weeks ago in parentheses.

Democrats: 65% Approve (was 56%), 20% Disapprove (was 20%), 15% Don't Know (was 23%)

Republicans: 20% Approve (19%), 68% Disapprove (65%), 12% Don't Know (16%)

Independents: 35% Approve (24%), 45% Disapprove (48%), 20% Don't Know (27%)

The poll also found more voters have become sympathetic to the Palestinians and not just Israelis amid the conflict.

Forty percent said they were most sympathetic to Israelis and eight percent said they were most sympathetic to Palestinians. Thirty-one percent said they were sympathetic to both sides equally, an improvement of five percentage points from the same question two weeks ago.

The poll also found that 47% of voters support a $14 billion funding request for Israel's military, compared to 38% who oppose.

More voters opposed funding for Ukraine's military in the fight against Russia than supported it in the latest poll at 46% to 41% respectively.

The majority of voters (52%) supported humanitarian aid for Israeli, Palestinian and Ukrainian civilians.

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Why It's Important: International relations is expected to be a big topic heading into the 2024 presidential election.

Biden's handling of the Middle East conflict and the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine could continue to be big talking points for voters.

The latest poll came after Biden appeared on the news program "60 Minutes" to discuss the conflicts. The program, which airs on Paramount Global PARAPARAA unit CBS, saw Biden discuss the importance of freeing hostages and speaking to the families who had missing loved ones.

Biden also pledged his support for Israel against Hamas and Ukraine against Russia in the interview.

"I guarantee we're gonna provide them everything we need," Biden said during the interview.

Biden ruled out the necessity of sending ground troops to Israel, an item that may have been well received by Americans.  

The president also highlighted the need of humanitarian aid in the region, an item that also likely played well with voters in the poll.

Biden also brushed off the notion that the U.S. can't help support Israel and Ukraine at the same time.

"We're the United States of America for God's sake, the most powerful nation in the history, not in the world, in the history of the world. The history of the world. We can take care of both of these and still maintain our overall international defense."

While not everyone agreed with Biden or everything he said during the interview, it is likely that his comments won over the approval of some voters when it comes to the current international conflicts.

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