In addition to all the disturbing details coming out of the Middle East about the Israel-Hamas war, the conflict has also revealed much about anti-Semitism in the United States. According to various reports, Jewish communities nationwide don’t feel safe. Can you blame them? Much of the mainstream media is basically reading off Hamas press releases verbatim, and some of the most hateful, anti-Semitic Democrats in Congress go unpunished by their own party. Pro-Palestine/pro-Hamas rallies seem to be popping up everywhere, even taking over the rotunda at the Cannon House Office Building.
Make no mistake about it: anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment are major problems in the United States. But rest assured that, though these voices are extremely loud and visible, they do not represent the majority of Americans.
Recent polls show Americans overwhelmingly support Israel.
A new Harvard CAPS / Harris Poll found that 84% of Americans surveyed support Israel, compared to 16% who support Hamas. “The survey also showed that older generations seemed to side more with Israel than the younger respondents,” reports the Washington Times. “In the poll, 52% of those 18 to 24 said they sided more with Israel, while 48% said they sided with Hamas. But 95% of those 65 and older said they sided with Israel, while 5% sided with Hamas.”
A CNN poll from last week similarly found 71% of Americans believe Israel’s war against Hamas is justified, while only 8% say it’s not.
An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Maris poll found that 65% of Americans believe the United States should publicly support Israel, including 77% of Republicans and 69% of Democrats. Only 8% think the U.S. should publicly criticize Israel, and a plurality believe that Israel’s response to the attack by Hamas has been “about right.”
“Israel is clearly winning in the court of public opinion,” says Lee M. Miringoff, Director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion.
According to a YouGov poll, a plurality of U.S. adults, 48%, are more sympathetic toward the Israelis while only 10% are more sympathetic toward the Palestinians. About 23% sympathize with both sides; however, the poll found that sympathy for Israel has been on the rise, with the 48% figure surpassing the previous week’s 42%, which is also well above the 31% from March 2023.
I thought American public opinion support for Israel would peak a few days after the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas, and then would decline amid the mounting civilian toll caused by the Israeli bombing of Gaza. So far, the opposite seems to be happening. https://t.co/CeVf9Wrk55 pic.twitter.com/K3HQonbnv6
— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) October 20, 2023
While it’s easy to conclude from media coverage that the pro-Hamas elements of America are the majority, poll after poll shows that this is not the case.
That doesn’t mean all surveys find great news. Polling on the war is one thing, but what about the original sneak attack that saw the vicious slaughter of innocent civilians in Israel at the hands of Hamas terrorists? According to a new Cygnal poll, a ridiculous 25% of Americans believe that “Hamas was justified in attacking Israel as part of their struggle for a Palestinian state.” It’s true that 75% say it was not justified, but that 25% is still a shamefully high number. It gets worse. A large majority of Muslim Americans, 58%, believe it was justified. That’s a horrifying poll result no matter how you slice it.
Related: Stunning Poll Shows Majority of Young Americans Think Killing Jews Is ‘Justified’
Another disturbing trend you can see in these polls is that pro-Hamas attitudes are stronger in the younger generations. So yes, support for Israel is the majority opinion, but there are still plenty of people supporting Hamas out there to be concerned about.