Democrats' internal review said to find Kamala Harris's stance on Gaza cost her votes in 2024

[PufPuf23]

Last edited Mon Feb 23, 2026, 09:12 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: The Times of Israel

Live Now Updated 45min ago

Democrats’ internal review said to find Kamala Harris’s stance on Gaza cost her votes in 2024

DNC reportedly showed findings to pro-Palestinian group despite saying it would not make probe public

By ToI Staff

Today, 3:35 am

Note: Changed link to that provided by Celerity at 6:10 PM Monday evening PST, would have been corrected earlier buy just got homefrom 2 hour one way trip to doctor appointment.

Read more: https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/report-democrats-internal-review-finds-harris-lost-votes-in-2024-due-to-her-stance-on-gaza/

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No body of story yet.

This is top (newest) story on The Times of Israel liveblog.

no paywall

[usonian]

1. Russian bots and no doubt GOP operatives pushed this to divide the the party.

Damage done.

Gaza was destroyed thanks to the abstainers.

And America is being destroyed, as well.

STOP ICE. STOP TRUMP, STOP VANCE, THIEL AND MUSK. STOP MIKEY.

Do it or there's nothing left.

[Celerity]

2. here is the proper link

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/report-democrats-internal-review-finds-harris-lost-votes-in-2024-due-to-her-stance-on-gaza/

An internal investigation within the US Democratic Party has found that former US vice president Kamala Harris’s stance on Gaza and Israel’s war against Hamas cost her votes in the 2024 election, the Axios news outlet reports.

According to Axios, this information was uncovered by the Democratic National Committee amid its probe into the errors and pitfalls that led to Harris losing against US President Donald Trump. The DNC said last year it would not make its findings public.

Nevertheless, Axios says members of the DNC informed pro-Palestinian activists from the IMEU Policy Project that their data showed Harris’s stance on Israel and Gaza — which was in line with the policies of former US president Joe Biden — was overall a “net negative” in the election.

Axios says it had “independently verified” that the DNC believes Harris’s policies on Israel and Gaza did alienate some voters. The DNC confirms to Axios that it did indeed speak to the IMEU Policy Project but declines to provide details on the meeting.

snip

[karynnj]

17. I would be interested in knowing what the impact of other positions

would have been.

From memory, she was seen as being less pro-Israel than Biden. Biden himself took steps to reject sending some of the strongest weapons to Israel. If this is correct, this means that both Biden and Harris had moved to less pro Netanyahu positions.

So, what position could they have taken and what would its impact be? I would imagine that the next step they could have taken was a complete ban on offensive weapons to Israel. (That would still allow defensive weapons, such as replenishing what was needed for the Iron Dome ). Although difficult to test after an election, if their analysis leading to these conclusions involved polling voters, they could ask how they would have voted had she stated that was her position. Obviously, there might be vote changes in both directions. One caveat is that asking now, they first need to ask, knowing what you know now, how would you vote to make sure they are not just picking up people regretting their vote.

I actually think it might not have been Harris's position, but the War in Gaza itself that was the problem because of our decades long weird relationship with Israel.

[PufPuf23]

19. Thank you for the link now in the OP.

Would have fixed earlier but as gone for 8 hours to go to doctor appointment.

Link originally used worked when first made the post.

[groundloop]

3. Fuck all this nitpicking, what about the big things - Russian interferance and corporate money?

[Chemical Bill]

28. And Republican ownership of media...

And billionaire right wing PACs, and Russian money, and the Republican war on education, and the Republican voter purges, and...

[thesquanderer]

4. Add it to the list. A whole lot of things cost her votes.

the short campaign window

hewing so closely to a Biden legacy that many had already grown skeptical about (which I guess includes OP's reference to stance on Gaza)

not being a great campaigner/communicator (e.g. for much of the campaign, she avoided interviews and press conferences, and often didn't do so great when she didn't)

and okay, she was a woman and a person of color, though I think that factor is often overstated on DU... because the "I won't vote for a woman" or "I won't vote for a POC" voters are, I believe, overwhelmingly people who would almost certainly vote for a Republican over a Democrat anyway.

[travelingthrulife]

6. She was a great candidate who was poorly placed by a botched primary.

So sick of people trashing a very good candidate.

[Shrek]

9. Actually the short campaign window wasn't short enough

In the first month or so after entering the race she had a substantial bounce in the polls and there was a palpable sense of joy and relief among the electorate. Trump and Vance were constantly on the defensive with all the mockery about being "weird" and the online couch ridicule, while Harris/Walz rallies were raucous and enthusiastic. Had the election been held in early August I believe she'd have won comfortably.

After that she steadily lost ground and there's nothing to suggest that a longer campaign would have resulted in a turnaround.

[thesquanderer]

15. More time wouldn't necessarily have helped, but...

...things weren't so rosy earlier. Check the state polls between the convention and election day... Harris was pretty consistently behind in Georgia and Arizona, and Pennsylvania was consistently a toss-up. Electorally, if she didn't win on Nov 4, I don't think there was any earlier day she'd have been likely to win either. I don't know that more time would have made a difference, but it was one thing that might have helped.

https://www.270towin.com/2024-presidential-election-polls/

[Prairie Gates]

7. Large portions of the world population believe that the Israeli state apparatus, IDF, and settler conduct

in the West Bank and Gaza is not just criminal, but fundamentally evil.

You can pretend that it is simple antisemitism all you want, but it is a fact. That includes big portions of the US population. And not just the activists. A lot of people have held their tongue and watched what was happening, and said nothing but silently stewed about what the IDF was and is doing in Gaza.

[yardwork]

8. So they voted for Trump. That makes perfect sense.

/sarcasm

[Prairie Gates]

10. It cost the Dems something to believe that sentiment could be ignored and belittled

That's for sure. And the Harris campaign absolutely made the calculation that they could ignore those people and those sentiments far more easily than they could ignore AIPAC. And here we are.

[yardwork]

12. How do you know they made that calculation?

Are you a member of her team?

Look, I agree that the DNC is dominated by old white dudes who are still using outmoded, unsuccessful campaign strategies and messaging. I agree that that approach doesn't serve us well. We need an overhaul of Democratic campaign strategies.

But this idea that Harris deliberately alienated voters by calling for a reasonable approach to the decades-long mess in the Middle East is bullshit.

Voters had a clear choice between pure evil and "not perfect but sincerely working on a solution" and they chose evil.

I will never forget or forgive.

[womanofthehills]

23. We all saw the kids out in the streets against the war

Protesting against war. Many just stayed home because of their anti war stance.

Remember Trump lied and called himself the antiwar candidate.

She probably would have easily won if she took an anti war stance. The younger generation keeps seeing too many injured and dead kids on their phones.

[PufPuf23]

20. Note that I agree with you.

Breaks my heart. Held my tongue because was called antisemitic on several occasions

POTUS Biden and candidate Harris were for a two-state solution, an immediate cease fire and more conditions regards arm deliveries.

Supporters of Israel did much to kneecap the Democratic candidates. There is a major split in the Democratic Party over these issues.

Netanyahu is very happy with Trump.

[Mz Pip]

11. How did that work out for them?

This is a fine example of of the perfect being the enemy of the good.

[Prairie Gates]

13. Allowing a genocide isn't good

[Mysterian]

14. Can't find it at the link

Where is it?

[Grins]

16. Sufficient to change the outcome?

Doesn’t say. Exactly how many votes and where?

This is a non-story.

[PufPuf23]

21. The reason made the post was that the story was the top of the Times of Israel liveblog.

Thought that was interesting in and of itself.

IMO the election was lost because of choices made in support of Israel when Israel was making bad choices.

[womanofthehills]

24. You-Gov poll, internal poll & exit

Ai

- A January 2025 poll by YouGov, commissioned by the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) Policy Project, surveyed voters nationwide and found that among those who supported Joe Biden in 2020 but did not vote for Harris in 2024 (or stayed home), 29% cited "ending Israel's violence in Gaza" as the top issue influencing their decision. This ranked higher than the economy (24%) or immigration (11%). The poll highlighted this as a significant factor in reduced Democratic turnout, especially in swing states like Michigan, where Harris underperformed compared to Biden's 2020 margins.



- The Democratic National Committee's (DNC) internal "autopsy" report on the 2024 election, as reported in February 2026, concluded that the Biden-Harris administration's pro-Israel stance on Gaza was a "net-negative" for the campaign. Based on the party's own data, it cost Harris votes, particularly among younger and progressive voters, leading to lower support in key battleground states. This review was not made public, but details were shared with pro-Palestinian groups like IMEU.

- Exit polls and post-election analyses, such as those from CNN, The Washington Post, and Fox News, showed Harris winning young voters (ages 18-29) by only 11 points in 2024, compared to Biden's 24-point margin in 2020—a 13-point shift toward Trump. In Michigan cities with large Arab American populations like Dearborn, Harris received about 22,000 fewer votes than Biden did in 2020, with some analyses attributing this directly to frustration over Gaza policy.

These findings suggest that while Gaza was not the sole reason for Harris's defeat, it played a measurable role in eroding support from key Democratic constituencies.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

18. Yeah, they sure showed her

Now you have Donny boy who wants to move everyone out and build a resort.

Brilliant!!!!!!!!!

[PufPuf23]

22. Supporters of the choices being made by Israel poured lots of funds via

AIPAC, other dark money and individual donors to Trump and the GOP.

Look at the donations to Trump by Miriam Adelson and her dead husband alone to support Trump, the GOP, Netanyahu and militant Zionism in general.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miriam_Adelson

[womanofthehills]

25. Remember Trump lying big time during his campaign

Calling himself the anti war candidate. Instead of voting, many young stayed home.

[RandySF]

26. No

It was the people who decided that Trump’s return was a small price to pay for making a statement.

[Doodley]

27. IMO, she lost because Trump's lies, fear-mongering and bigotry attracted more votes than decency.