‘Oh My God!’ CNN’s Data Guru Stunned By Democrats’ 70-Point Shift on Israel

CNN data guru Harry Enten broke down the latest polling in the Democratic Party on views toward Israel and the Palestinians on Wednesday and marveled at the massive shift in attitudes, declaring he’s “rarely” seen anything like it in his many years of looking at polling data.

Enten spoke to anchor Kate Bolduan in the context of Zohran Mamdani’s sweeping victory over ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in New York City’s Democratic Party mayoral primary last week.

“Andrew Cuomo, during the primary, attacked Mamdani as being insufficiently pro-Israel. I’m not quite sure the former governor understood how much the politics have changed around this issue among Democrats,” began Enten, adding:

What are we talking about here? All right, who do Democrats sympathize more with: Israelis or Palestinians? In 2017, the Democratic Party was a pro-Israeli party. Look at this. They sympathized with the Israelis by 13 points—more with the Israelis than the Palestinians. But look at this sea change. Now, Democrats sympathize more with the Palestinians by 43 points.

Oh my God! That is a change in the margin of 56 points over the course of just eight years. So all of a sudden, it’s the pro-Palestinian position that actually reigns supreme in Democratic politics, not the Israeli position. And that is part of the reason why Mamdani was able to do so well in this primary, because those attacks over Israel, simply put, did not ring true for Democrats. They’re now on the side of the Palestinians, not the Israelis.

Bolduan followed up, “This is a much bigger issue, specifically with Mamdani, though. I mean, an outspoken critic of Israel. He’s facing continued criticism, though, for not being outspoken enough against anti-Semitism, that is for sure. But on this, what is it? Talk about Democrats and how, broadly, how this really is shifting.”

“Yeah, so, you know, you see this, you see this among Democrats overall, right? But we know that Mamdani’s base was younger voters within the Democratic Party. And so I want to break it down for you,” Enten replied, as Bolduan clarified, “With younger Democrats.”

“Correct. So take a look here. Who do aged 18 to 49 Democrats sympathize more with: the Israelis or the Palestinians? Again, in 2017, younger Democrats sympathized more with the Israelis by 14 points. Look at this shift: now, Palestinians—they sympathize with the Palestinians by 57 points. That is an over 70-point shift in the margin in just a matter of eight years!” Enten explained, adding:

So the bottom line is Mamdani’s base within the Democratic Party—and the base of the Democratic Party of younger voters, younger Democrats—have changed tremendously on this issue in eight years’ time. I rarely ever see shifts like this, Kate, in which you see one side of the equation leading by 14 points eight years ago, and then all of a sudden the other side of the equation leading by 57 points.

The bottom line is the politics around the Israelis and the Palestinians have shifted tremendously among Democrats, and they’ve shifted specifically tremendously among Democrats who are under the age of 50. Younger Democrats—Mamdani’s base, and also the base of democratic socialists like himself, like Bernie Sanders, like AOC—they have just shifted more so than I think anyone could possibly have imagined, say, eight years ago.

Watch the clip above via CNN.