www.jpost.com
It's mostly due to poll numbers. The American public, including Democrats, supports Israel quite strongly, with only some small dips in the last couple years, and that support is fairly strong on both sides of the aisle. The party as a whole sees itself as following public opinion, not leading it, so their position will shift if/when public opinion ever shifts. Lobbying certainly has some influence but the numbers are the main factor.
news.gallup.com
The poll numbers are also a product of lobbying as well. Americans take their cues from politicians and media.It's mostly due to poll numbers. The American public, including Democrats, supports Israel quite strongly, with only some small dips in the last couple years, and that support is fairly strong on both sides of the aisle. The party as a whole sees itself as following public opinion, not leading it, so their position will shift if/when public opinion ever shifts. Lobbying certainly has some influence but the numbers are the main factor.
Americans, but Not Liberal Democrats, Mostly Pro-Israel
Americans continue to view Israel favorably and back the Israelis more than the Palestinians, but the extent of that support slipped a bit in 2019.
Nonsense. If they were taking a lead from public opinion and polling numbers, the platform wouldn't have overwhelmingly voted down marijuana legalization and Medicare for all. Both of those are popular issues with high polling numbers, yet shockingly low support in the platform committee. This is about neoliberal ideology.
Very true, to a certain degree the whole system is tainted by it.
They're different kinds of issues and voters respond to them differently. Israel is a wedge issue, taking a strong stance will actively push a not insignificant group of voters away and provide the opposing party with a clear and simple line of attack, while weed is not a wedge issue and will not push voters away as it's understood, and clearly shown in the party platform, that Democrats are better on it anyway. Politicians being out of touch on weed is a tale as old as time but voters don't mobilize on weed unless it's up for a referendum. M4A is not really popular, the idea is popular but the actual policy proposal is not, and it is not the leading position on the matter within Democratic voters and definitely isn't among the electorate, so no shock it doesn't end up on the party platform. The role of the party platform is to win elections, not to guide policy, and thus it shouldn't be surprising that its points are primarily built around achieving electoral success.
Come on. The idea that voters care more about foreign policy towards Israel than domestic drug policy, which affects many different issues including policing and the justice system, is just ridiculous. Israel is not a mobilizing political issue in the US other than to a group of evangelicals who are lost to the Democratic party anyway. You're just coming up with excuses at this point.
This canard is such bullshit and is largely based on push polls. It's absolutely a popular position and is much more popular than some of the deeply unpopular positions adopted by the platform.
Public option is more popular than medicare for all which is what they went with.
