Majority of Americans disapprove of Israel’s war against Hamas: Poll
Palestinians line up to receive free meals at Jabaliya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Monday, March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Essa)
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A majority of Americans now disapprove of Israel’s war against Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, with support dropping from 50% in November to 36% this month, according to a new Gallup poll.
The number who disapprove increased from 45% in November to 55% in March. About 9% of respondents in the latest Gallup poll have no opinion on the issue.
But approval of Israel’s war is divided along party lines, with 64% of Republicans supporting the military action in Gaza, compared to just 18% of Democrats.
Still, both Democrats and the GOP saw declining support from November, when 71% of Republicans and 36% of Democrats supported Israel’s war.
Among independents, support for Israel’s military action in Gaza dropped from 47% to 29% in the same time frame.
Protests calling for a cease-fire and to protect Palestinian lives have become commonplace across the U.S., while others say Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas, which invaded on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,100 people and taking roughly 250 hostages, with 100 believed to be still alive in custody in Gaza.
But the nearly six-month war shows no end in sight, even as more than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed and the United Nations is warning of a famine in northern Gaza.
Democrats are growing furious at the death toll and humanitarian crisis, especially with Arab Americans and young voters promising a protest vote at the polls in November. About 13% of Democrats in the primary for Michigan, a key battleground state in November, voted “uncommitted” instead of for President Biden.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., this month called for new elections in Israel as he accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being “too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza.”
The Biden administration is trying to get more humanitarian aid into Gaza while it is also taking a harder stance on the war, abstaining this week from a United Nations Security Council resolution that called for an immediate cease-fire for the next two weeks and the release of hostages. Netanyahu canceled a delegation to Washington after the vote.
Biden and key members of his Cabinet are also pushing for Israel to reconsider a major ground operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering from the war.
Gallup polled a random sample of 1,016 adults who are 18 and older and live in the United States via phone interviews from March 1-20, and the survey has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.