Americans’ opinions divided on US policy towards Israel-Hamas war (POLL)

Nearly four in ten Americans believe the United States is doing too much to support Israel in its war against Hamas, up from about three in ten in January, according to a new ABC News Ipsos poll. And they trust former President Donald Trump more than President Joe Biden to handle this issue, even though few people call it critical in choosing a candidate.

As protests rage on American college campuses, opinions on American politics are fragmented. About a third of Americans believe the United States is not doing enough to protect Palestinian civilians caught up in the war, but a quarter believe it is doing too much. The others, 38%, consider that American efforts in this regard are completely justified. These results have changed little compared to January.

See PDF for full results.

Regarding Israel, there has been a change: at the start of this year, 31% of respondents said the United States was doing too much to support Israel in its war against Hamas, while today 38% say so, an increase of 7 percentage points. Twenty percent say U.S. support for Israel is insufficient and 40 percent say it is fair.

Ideological differences run deep on both issues, with liberals far more likely than others to say the United States is doing too much to support Israel and not enough to protect Palestinian civilians. Notably, given campus protests, young people’s views are similar to those of all adults, and it is older people, not younger people, who are more likely today than in January to say that the United States is doing too much to support Israel in the war.

The survey was conducted for ABC by Langer Research Associates, with field work conducted by Ipsos. In terms of domestic policy, the study found that 37% of respondents trust Trump more than Biden to handle the problem; 29% trust Biden more, a gap of 8 points. Notably, 33% trust neither Biden nor Trump to handle this situation.

However, visibility is low. Just under half of Americans, 48%, say the war between Israel and Hamas will be an important issue to them in the November election, with 12% saying it will be one of the most important issues . As is not uncommon in the field of foreign affairs, it ranks far behind in importance on all 10 questions tested in the survey.

Watch “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” on ABC Sunday morning for more results from the survey.

Groups

Although the protests are centered on universities, it is ideology that most clearly differentiates attitudes on American policy toward the Israel-Hamas conflict. Fifty-one percent of liberals believe the United States is doing too much to support Israel in the war; this drops to 38% of moderates and 28% of conservatives. (It peaks, at 56%, among those who say they are very liberal.)

When it comes to civilian casualties in Gaza, the opposite is true, with even wider gaps. Fifty-nine percent of liberals (including 69% of those who are very liberal) believe the United States is doing too little to protect Palestinian civilians. This figure drops sharply to 29% of moderates and 17% of conservatives.

Partisanship is also a factor. Forty-three percent of independents and 40% of Democrats say the United States is doing too much to support Israel; that drops to 29% of Republicans. Conversely, 47% of Democrats believe the United States is not doing enough to protect Palestinian civilians. Thirty-six percent of independents share this view, compared to 15% of Republicans.

By age, regardless of the protests on college campuses, opinions on American politics among adults aged 18 to 24 are largely in line with those of adults overall. However, older people – especially older people – are less likely than others to say that the United States is doing too much to support Israel.

Change

The seven-point change since January in views on policy toward Israel occurred mostly in the political center and ideological center-left — among independents and people who call themselves “somewhat” liberal . The feeling that the United States is doing too much to support Israel is up 13 points among somewhat liberals and 11 points among independents, while it is essentially unchanged among both very liberals and conservatives. It also increases more sharply among college graduates (+11 points) than among non-graduates (+5) and among women (+10) compared to men (+5).

Additionally, the view that the United States is doing too much to support Israel is virtually unchanged since January among 18- to 24-year-olds. It is among people aged 25 and over that this attitude has become more pronounced.

Methodology

This ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted online via the Ipsos KnowledgePanel® probability system from April 25-30, 2024, in English and Spanish, among a national random sample of 2,260 adults. Results have a margin of sampling error of 2 percentage points, including design effect, for the full sample. Sampling error is not the only source of differences in polls.

The survey was conducted by Langer Research Associates, with sampling and data collection by Ipsos. See details on the ABC News investigation methodology here.