The upcoming primaries in Michigan and Missouri on August 4 will be a crucial test for the Democratic Party’s stance on Israel. The debate over American policy toward Israel has been a sharp dividing line in the Michigan Senate primary between centrist Rep. Haley Stevens and progressive Abdul El-Sayed, as well as in the Missouri rematch between firebrand former US Rep. Cori Bush and Rep. Wesley Bell.

Shift in Democratic Views

For years, critics of Israel like Bush and El-Sayed were largely marginalized in the Democratic Party. However, the party’s primaries this year have demonstrated an explosion of frustration among rank-and-file Democratic voters over Israel’s actions in Gaza, the West Bank, and elsewhere under long-time Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The intensity of that backlash has rapidly reset the terms of the Democratic debate over Israel. Only two years ago, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris refused to allow a pro-Palestinian activist to speak from the podium at the party’s national convention. Today, Democrats are debating not whether, but how extensively, to reconfigure American policy toward Israel and the Palestinians.

Primary Results

Results in Democratic primaries this year so far show a split decision, with progressive candidates deeply critical of Israel advancing mostly in safe blue districts, and centrists who would preserve more of the traditional relationship prevailing in most swing districts and states that will decide control of Congress.

The rising attention to Israel in Democratic primaries this year is directly related to the precipitous decline in the nation’s image with the American public since its ferocious response to the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack. In polling by the Gallup Organization, the share of Americans who expressed a favorable view of Israel plummeted from 75% in 2021 to 46% in 2026.

Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.