(WASHINGTON) — Nearly four in 10 Americans in a new ABC News Ipsos poll say the United States is doing too much to support Israel in its war with Hamas, up from about three in 10 in January. And more trust former President Donald Trump than President Joe Biden to handle the issue, though few call it critical in their choice of a candidate.
With protests raging across U.S. college campuses, views on U.S. policy are fragmented. About a third of Americans say the U.S. is doing too little to help protect Palestinian civilians caught up in the war — yet a quarter say it’s doing too much. The rest, 38%, see the U.S. effort in this regard as about right. Those results are little changed from January.
On Israel, there has been a shift: Early this year, 31% said the U.S. was doing too much to support Israel in its war with Hamas, while today 38% say so, up 7 percentage points. Twenty percent see too little U.S. support for Israel and 40% call this about right.
Ideological gaps are profound on both questions, with liberals far more apt than others to say the U.S. is doing too much to support Israel and too little to protect Palestinian civilians. Notably, given campus protests, views among young people are similar to those among all adults, and it’s older people, not the youngest, who are more likely now than in January to say the U.S. is doing too much to support Israel in the war.
The survey was produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates, with fieldwork by Ipsos. In terms of domestic politics, it finds that 37% trust Trump more than Biden to handle the issue; 29% trust Biden more, an 8-point gap. Notably, 33% don’t trust either Biden or Trump to handle it.
Still, salience is low. Just fewer than half of Americans, 48%, say the war between Israel and Hamas will be an important issue to them in the November election, including 12% who say it will be one of the single most important issues. As is not uncommon with foreign affairs, it ranks a distant last in importance out of 10 issues tested in the survey.
Watch “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” on ABC Sunday morning for more results from the survey.
Groups
While protests are centered on colleges, it’s ideology that most sharply differentiates attitudes on U.S. policy toward the Israel-Hamas conflict. Fifty-one percent of liberals say the U.S. is doing too much to support Israel in the war; that drops to 38% of moderates and 28% of conservatives. (It peaks, at 56%, among those who call themselves very liberal.)
On civilian casualties in Gaza, the inverse holds true, with even broader gaps. Fifty-nine percent of liberals (including 69% of those who are very liberal) say the U.S. is doing too little to help protect Palestinian civilians. That falls sharply to 29% of moderates and 17% of conservatives.
Partisanship is a factor as well. Forty-three percent of independents and 40% of Democrats say the U.S. is doing too much to support Israel; this falls to 29% of Republicans. Conversely, 47% of Democrats say the U.S. is doing too little to help protect Palestinian civilians. Thirty-six percent of independents share this view, falling off sharply to 15% of Republicans.
By age, regardless of the protests on college campuses, views on U.S. policy among adults aged 18-24 are largely consonant with those among all adults. Older people, though — especially seniors — are less apt than others to say the U.S. is doing too much to support Israel.
Change
The 7-point shift since January in views on policy toward Israel occurred chiefly in the political center and ideological center-left — among independents and people who say they’re “somewhat” liberal. Seeing the U.S. as doing too much to support Israel is up 13 points among somewhat liberals and 11 points among independents, while essentially unchanged among very liberals and conservatives alike. It’s also up more sharply among college graduates (+11 points) than non-graduates (+5) and among women (+10) as opposed to men (+5).
Additionally, the view that the U.S. is doing too much to support Israel is virtually unchanged since January among 18- to 24-year-olds. It’s among people aged 25 and older that this attitude has increased.
Methodology
This ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted online via the probability-based Ipsos KnowledgePanel® April 25-30, 2024, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 2,260 adults. Results have a margin of sampling error of 2 percentage points, including the design effect, for the full sample. Sampling error is not the only source of differences in polls.
The survey was produced by Langer Research Associates, with sampling and data collection by Ipsos. See details on ABC News survey methodology here.
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