College campus protests highlight tensions in Biden’s coalition
CNN
Joe Biden’s hopes of recreating his winning coalition from 2020 is coming under threat as protests against Israel’s war in Gaza spreads across college campuses.
President Joe Biden’s hopes of recreating the coalition that lifted him to office in 2020 is coming under threat as the protest movement against Israel’s war in Gaza spreads across college campuses. Pro-Israel Democrats are now pushing the president to respond more forcefully to antisemitic incidents at colleges and universities, echoing calls from Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, who have cast the increasingly combative demonstrations as a mark of incompetence inside the White House. For months, Democrats on Capitol Hill and in the highest echelons of the party have approached the conflict in Gaza with relative caution, but as the protest encampments dig in, college officials weigh canceling commencement ceremonies and Republicans ratchet up their attacks, Biden’s work to hold together a united front are fraying. The White House on Tuesday seemed to embrace a new, tougher tact when discussing the overnight occupation of an academic building by protesters at Columbia University. “The president believes that forcibly taking over a building on campus is absolutely the wrong approach – that is not an example of peaceful protest,” White House national security communications adviser John Kirby told reporters. “A small percentage of students shouldn’t be able to disrupt the academic experience – the legitimate study – for the rest of the student body.” That shift in tone, though, is unlikely to quiet the calls for Biden to take a heavier hand with the protesters. But a stronger approach would risk further chipping away at the president’s standing among younger voters, who, according to recent polls, are overwhelmingly disapproving of his handling of the war.
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