It's certainly been interesting to watch the polls when it comes to support for Israel, our ally in the Middle East, after Hamas perpetrated a brutal assault terrorist attack that left 1,200 Israelis dead, most of them civilians. Not only did Hamas indiscriminately kill men, women, and children, including babies and Holocaust survivors, but the terrorists also brutally engaged in rape, torture, and kidnapping. Israel is now fighting back, all while trying to minimize civilian deaths and looking to ensure civilians are safely transported in harms way, all while Hamas hide behind civilians, even and including in hospitals.
While Americans still sympathize with Israel, according to a recent poll from Quinnipiac, that's no longer the case among Democrats, who are at odds with overall respondents. "Overall, 54 percent say their sympathies lie more with the Israelis, while 24 percent say their sympathies lie more with the Palestinians. This compares to Quinnipiac University's October 17 poll, when 61 percent said the Israelis and 13 percent said the Palestinians," the poll's write-up noted.
The headline tellingly read "Sympathy Grows For Palestinians But Majority Still Sympathize More With Israelis, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Generational Divide Widens On View Of Israel."
Democrats and young people are more sympathetic towards Palestinians, though. A plurality of Democrats, at 41 percent, and a majority of those ages 18-34, at 52 percent, say as much. Eighty percent of Republicans say their sympathies are more with Israelis.
The poll's write-up highlighted a "sharp reversal" in sympathies among these demographics:
Among voters 18 - 34 years old, a majority (52 percent) say their sympathies lie more with the Palestinians, while 29 percent say the Israelis. This is a sharp reversal from October, when 41 percent said the Israelis and 26 percent said the Palestinians.
Among Democrats, a plurality (41 percent) say their sympathies lie more with the Palestinians, while 34 percent say their sympathies lie more with the Israelis. In October, nearly half of Democrats (48 percent) said the Israelis and 22 percent said the Palestinians.
"While Americans overwhelmingly believe that Hamas lit the fuse that set the region on fire, support for Israel's devastating counterattack deteriorates with younger voters," Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy is quoted as saying.
When respondents were asked "do you approve or disapprove of the way Israel is responding to the October 7th Hamas terrorist attack," the split was 46-40 percent overall, with a slightly larger amount approving. Just 27 percent of Democrats and 20 percent of those ages 18-34 approve, though. Meanwhile, 73 percent of Republicans approve.
Fifty percent of those voters age 18-34--more than any other demographic--say that the United States is "too supportive" of Israel. They're also the group most likely to say they oppose "the United States sending more military aid to Israel for their efforts in the war with Hamas," with 65 percent saying they do.
Perhaps most troubling of all, though, is that only a plurality--at 48 percent--of that age group say the think Hamas "is more responsible for the outbreak of violence in the Middle East." Other than the 55 percent of black respondents and 57 percent of Hispanics, at least 62 percent of all other demographics recognize that Hamas is. The 36 percent who say they think Israel is more responsible is by far the greatest percentage of any demographic.
The poll was conducted November 9-13, with 1,743 adults and a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points. For the 1,574 registered voters there was a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
More and more polls continue to show that the Democratic Party is not so supportive of Israel, and that its voters support Palestinians over Israelis even. Matt just pointed out how a poll from Arab World for Research and Development showed that Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza had a positive view of Hamas.
This also comes weeks after a Cygnal poll found that a majority of Muslim-Americans felt that Hamas was justified, and after the Arab American Institute released a poll that showed a stunning drop in support for the Democratic Party.
Biden's gotten particularly low marks for his handling of the Israel-Hamas war. A separate headline from Quinnipiac on Wednesday noted that just 37 percent approve of how Biden is handling the Israel-Hamas war, while 54 percent disapprove. Just 60 percent of Democrats approve--the most supportive demographic--while 73 percent of Republicans disapprove. Sixty-eight percent of those ages 18-34 also disapprove.
Further, the Squad members spewing anti-Israel and anti-semitic remarks are also Democrats, and the White House and other Democratic leaders seem to be giving them a pass. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), was censured earlier this month. While it was a bipartisan vote, most Democrats voted not to censure.
This is all particularly curious given that Jews are overwhelmingly Democratic. They're even more likely to be Independents than Republican, according to a report from the Brandeis Steinhardt Social Research Institute.
Unfortunately, this decreasing support for Israel may be something of a trend. Leah covered earlier this week how the Reuters/Ipsos poll also showed decreasing support for Israel and increased support for a ceasefire, despite how a ceasefire would be to Hamas' benefit. There had also been a ceasefire before Hamas broke it with the October 7 terrorist attack.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member