As Townhall has been covering from the start of the Israel-Hamas war after Hamas perpetrated a terrorist attack on October 7, there's been poll after poll showing not only how Americans feel about the conflict, but also about President Joe Biden has been regarded for his response. It's not looking too good for the president, especially as he's running for reelection. Many Democrats and young people say he's too supportive of Israel, though Republicans still aren't willing to give him credit, making for a low approval rating on this issue, and for his presidency overall. Last weekend brought with it the release of no less than two polls highlighting findings of voters about Israel, and as promised, here's a further deep dive look on that.
One poll came from The New York Times/Siena College, which showed Biden winning against former and potentially future President Donald Trump with likely voters, but losing to Trump with registered voters. The New York Times, however, was deadset that their takeaway be about Biden's disapproval rating for his handling of the Israel-Hamas war. The outlet was certainly called out for such a hyperfocus.
Here's some of how the poll's write-up addressed Israel:
Voters broadly disapprove of the way President Biden is handling the bloody strife between Israelis and Palestinians, a New York Times/Siena College poll has found, with younger Americans far more critical than older voters of both Israel’s conduct and of the administration’s response to the war in Gaza.
Voters are also sending decidedly mixed signals about the direction U.S. policy-making should take as the war in Gaza grinds into its third month, with Israelis still reeling from the Oct. 7 terrorist attack, thousands of Palestinian deaths in Gaza and the Biden administration trying to pressure Israel to scale back its military campaign. Nearly as many Americans want Israel to continue its military campaign as want it to stop now to avoid further civilian casualties.
...
The broader electorate, by contrast, takes a much more pro-Israel view, suggesting that Israel’s image problems with American voters are more acute on the political horizon than at present.
Still, fully 48 percent of all voters surveyed said they believed Israel was not taking enough precautions to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza.
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The war also appears to be advancing the process of turning Israel into a partisan issue. For years, Republicans, led by Mr. Trump, have accused Democrats of undermining Israel’s government and have implored Jewish voters to leave the party that nearly three-quarters of them traditionally have called their political home.
Now, a partisan divide is emerging that could affect some Jewish voters’ comfort within the Democratic Party: 76 percent of Republicans said they sympathized with Israel over the Palestinians. Among white, evangelical Christians, whose theological emphasis on Israel is at the core of the G.O.P.’s unquestioning support, sympathy with Israel is even higher, at 80 percent. Democrats show no such consensus: 31 percent said they sympathized more with Israel, 34 percent with the Palestinians and 16 percent said their sympathies lay with both.
As one can see, there's more to the findings regarding this part of this poll than just on young people and their anti-Israel sentiments, although the mention of TikTok is concerning:
Those who identify as regular users of TikTok were the most adamant in their criticism. The social media platform, which is owned by a Chinese company, has come under heated criticism from both parties, but especially Republicans, for an inflammatory stream of videos aimed at users who skew very young. Even when controlling for their age, TikTok users were more critical of the Biden administration’s policies toward Israel.
“It’s a lot of really violent imagery of civilian casualties and hospital bombings,” [27-year-old] Mr. Lohner said, citing TikTok and another platform, Instagram. “I’m trying to take it at face value and acknowledge that this is social media and it could be anything, but it feels like these are on-the-ground perspectives into what is really happening.”
When it comes to those "hospital bombings," Hamas hides behind and even makes use of hospitals for their terrorism. Further, as Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who has been particularly pro-Israel, has highlighted, TikTok isn't exactly the place to go for information. It's been a particularly pro-Hamas, anti-Israel platform.
It's not just The New York Times, though. "It's Becoming Clear. Israel Could Cost Joe Biden Re-Election," read a Thursday morning headline from Newsweek.
The crosstabs of The New York Times/Siena College poll also speak to what overall support there is for Israel without any editoralizing. While support isn't where one might like it to be, it's still there.
For instance, among likely voters the crosstabs show that:
- A majority, at 56 percent, support "providing additional economic and military support to Israel," which includes 29 percent who do so "strongly."
- Given a choice between sympathizing more with Israelis and Palestinians, 51 percent say they sympathize more with Israelis over Palestinians. Other than voters aged 18-29 and Democrats, a plurality or a majority of every other demographic surveyed say their sympathies are more with Israelis.
- When asked if they believe "Israel is seriously interested in a peaceful solution," a plurality, at 47 percent, say they do. When asked the same question, with regards to Palestinians, a plurality, at 47 percent said "Palestinians are NOT seriously interested in a peaceful solution."
The numbers are similar among registered voters in that the crosstabs show that:
- A majority, at 54 percent, support "providing additional economic and military support to Israel," which includes 29 percent who do so "strongly."
- Given a choice between sympathizing more with Israelis and Palestinians, a plurality, at 47 percent, say they sympathize more with Israelis over Palestinians.
- When asked if they believe "Israel is seriously interested in a peaceful solution," a plurality, at 45 percent, say they do. When asked the same question, with regards to Palestinians, a plurality, at 46 percent said "Palestinians are NOT seriously interested in a peaceful solution."
I will say that it is concerning that the pluralities of likely voters and registered voters say they agree more so that "Israel should stop its military campaign in order to protect against civilian casualties, even if not all Israeli hostages have been released." It cannot be emphasized enough that it's Hamas who puts civilian casualities in harms way, from using them as human shields, to operating out of hospitals, as mentioned above. While Israel will delay its plans in order to get casualities out of harms way and will direct people where to go, Hamas will keep civilians from doing so. There's also video footage of Hamas stealing humanitarian aid meant for civilians.
Nevertheless, the poll isn't all cause for despair when it comes to the idea that the American people still do overall stand by Israel.
Matt also covered the shocking results of a Harvard-Harris poll. As we've been covering, young people aren't particularly supportive of Israel, but this one was particularly eye-opening. That poll did bring its own sense of encouragement, though, in that young people are on their own with such strongly anti-Israel views.
Respondents were asked "Should Israel cease all hostilities now or keep going until Hamas is defeated and the hostages released?" By 63-37 percent, voters believe that Israel should keep going. Broken down by age group, 57 percent of those 18-29 want a ceasefire, as do 50 percent of those 35-44. Those 25-34 are almost just as evenly split, in that 49 percent want a ceasefire, while 51 percent say Israel should keep going.
Meanwhile, 63 percent of those 45-54, 76 percent of those 55-64, and 79 percent of those 65 and older say Israel should keep going.
Some, like members of the Squad, have been particularly vocal in calling for a ceasefire, though a ceasefire only benefits Hamas. There had been a ceasefire, which Hamas broke with its October 7 attack. There were also temporary pauses in fighting during this conflict so as to release hostages over several rounds. Hamas attacked people in Jerusalem though, and also refuses to release all of the female hostages.
On Tuesday, as Spencer covered far-left activists took over the U.S. Capitol rotunda to demand a ceasefire. Similar incicdents took place earlier this month and back in mid-October, around the time Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) was spreading anti-Israel falsehoods at an event close to the Capitol. She was later censured in a bipartisan vote by the House.
Not only were such agitators arrested, but at least according to the Harvard-Harris poll, they're not in the majority when it comes to such a pro-Hamas view.
Even if Americans were not to stand by our ally in the Middle East though, will it really matter? It would certainly be reassuring to Israel, but I also have faith that Israel will do right for her people regardless of what the rest of the world says, and that includes the United States.
Last month, Townhall attended a screening that showed footage from October 7. In his remarks before the footage was shown, Eliav Benjamin, the Deputy Head of Mission to the Embassy of Israel, discussed "a time of determination," specifically "a time when Israel is striking against one of the worst terrorist organizations in the world and fighting a just war, not on Israel's behalf and not just on the behalf of the Jewish people, but on behalf of the free world." Benjamin also spoke to how "I don't believe Israel should be apologizing for anything it is doing now, on the contrary. It is our obligation to take care of our people."
The New York Times has even taken note of this as well, with a Monday piece on how "Israelis Abandon Political Left Over Security Concerns After Oct. 7."
This is absolutely true in my observation. https://t.co/zXOqJgDH5V
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) December 19, 2023
