Since former Vice President Kamala Harris lost the 2024 presidential election, the Democratic Party has been in a panic over how it can win back more voters. Ideas have so far included Democratic officials going on podcasts, finding their own Joe Rogan, and growing facial hair.

But when it comes to actual issues Democratic voters care about, the party doesn’t seem so eager to experiment. And there’s one topic in particular that is showing just how big the divide is between the Democratic establishment and Democratic-leaning voters: the United States’ support for Israel.

Israel’s destruction of Gaza — which many scholars and experts consider to be an ongoing genocide — has prompted a dramatic shift in how Americans view Israel and its relationship with the US. That change is especially pronounced among Democratic voters. A recent Quinnipiac poll found that only 12 percent of Democratic voters say they sympathize more with Israelis, while 60 percent say they are more sympathetic toward Palestinians.

Compare that to just eight years ago, when Quinnipiac asked voters the same question. In 2017, 42 percent of Democratic respondents said they sympathized more with Israelis, while only 23 percent sided more with the Palestinians.

“All of a sudden, it’s the pro-Palestinian position that actually reigns supreme in Democratic politics, not the Israeli position,” Harry Enten, CNN’s chief data analyst, said in a recent broadcast breaking down why Zohran Mamdani, an outspoken critic of Israel, performed so well in the New York City mayoral primaries. “I rarely ever see shifts like this.”

Over the last week, news and images of more and more Palestinian children dying of hunger have finally compelled American politicians to push back on Israel’s war crimes in Gaza. A growing number of Democrats have called out Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon of war in recent days because of just how dire the situation has become, though Israel has been weaponizing humanitarian aid since the start of its war. It seems that nearly two years into Israel’s assault on Gaza, more and more Democrats are starting to shift their tone.

But by and large, the Democratic establishment has remained out of step with its voters on Israel — because Democrats’ actions and policies tell a far different story than their recent rhetoric does. Democratic leaders in Congress, for example, recently met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has a warrant out for his arrest — issued by the International Criminal Court — for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes, including the crime of starvation as a method of warfare. High-ranking Democratic officials from New York, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, have also held out on endorsing Mamdani, despite him being their party’s nominee for New York City mayor. One issue that they keep citing is how Mamdani talks about Israel, presumably out of fear of alienating some of their own voters.

If Democrats really wanted to act on their criticisms of Netanyahu’s government, they could have, over the past two years, tried to suspend military aid to Israel — including defensive weapons — until it complies with international law. But when members of Congress made those kinds of proposals — like Vermont Sen.........

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