Focus groups: Georgia swing voters trust Biden over Trump on Israel-Hamas war

• "While Georgia swing voters tentatively support how Joe Biden is handling the war between Israel and Hamas, they're unambiguous that they wouldn't trust Donald Trump to manage this crisis responsibly," said Rich Thau, president of Engagious, who moderated the focus groups.
• "I think that part of the issue with Donald Trump is he's not a delicate person. I feel like he's very emotional and very aggressive," Katie H said. "I just can't confidently say that Trump would do a better job than what Biden's doing right now."

Zoom in: Axios sat in on two Engagious/Sago online focus groups Wednesday night with 11 Georgia voters. Four are Democrats, three are Republicans, and four are independents.

• A focus group is not a statistically significant sample like a poll, but the responses show how some voters are thinking and talking about current events.

The big picture: Most voters said they believe Biden would be less impulsive in his decision-making regarding the war than Trump if he were in the White House.

• "If this was happening [during the Trump presidency], I guess we'd probably already be over there with them fighting now," said focus group participant Lorenzo R.
• "It's not like Trump to listen to advice most of the time. He basically just does what Trump does. He takes action. He wants to show power, force and that as usual, America is the No. 1 country in the world in terms of military strengths," Tyrese M said.
• "I don't necessarily think he'd be dropping a bomb today ... maybe not today, three days later, but within the next week or two, take action," added Jessie O.

Zoom out: Instead of taking a tougher stance toward Iran, several participants said they believe Biden should try to negotiate with the country.

• "I think they should always try to negotiate first. And I mean if they get absolutely nowhere, then I think the door will be open a little bit to get a little bit harsher with them," Tina K said.
• "I think the U.S. should be more diplomatic, approach them with dialogue and negotiations, because we don't want to go the hard way. It kind of didn't work for us the last 20 years," said Tyrese M. "It's more of a loss to us, if we want to go play hardball every time. We can't always use that."

• The U.S. government has warned Iran against intervening in the war between Israel and Hamas, who is supported by Iran.

Between the lines: Most participants were aware that the U.S. is supporting Israel in this conflict but they haven't heard much in terms of details.

• The White House slammed Trump for calling Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based militant group backed by Iran, "very smart" while calling a top Israeli official a "jerk."
• "It's completely lost on us why any American would ever praise an Iran-backed terrorist organization as 'smart,'" White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement.

The bottom line: The majority of participants expressed no regrets for backing Biden in 2020 and — despite some concerns with his presidency — are certain that they do not want to swing back to supporting Trump.

• 'I'd take the vice president back. He did well. Trump didn't," Sherry L. said.
• "Nikki Haley has a good chance at my vote," said Alex P.

Editor's note: This article has been corrected to show that it was Alex P. who said "Nikki Haley has a good chance at my vote." It originally attributed the quote to Tyrese.