Democrats disapprove (49% to 33%) of the way Israel is responding to the Hamas terrorist attacks on Oct. 7—the deadliest antisemitic attack since the Holocaust—and younger U.S. voters, ages 18 to 34, disapprove by a similar margin (52% to 32%). Younger voters also overwhelmingly oppose (65%) sending more military aid to Israel.
That’s according to a new Quinnipiac poll of 1,610 self-identified registered voters nationwide, surveyed Oct. 26-30. The results of the poll, whose margin for error is 2.4 percentage points in either direction, was released on Nov. 2.
Older voters and Republicans see things differently. Those 65-years-old and older (59% to 27%), 50-64 (58% to 26%) and 35-49 (48% to 38%) approve of Israel’s response to the Hamas attacks, as do Republicans overwhelmingly (75% to 14%). Independents also approve, by a margin of 46% to 39%.
More men (56%) than women (44%), and more white people (58%) than Hispanic (39%) and black people (29%) approved of Israel’s response to the attacks.
Republicans (65% to 30%) and Democrats (49% to 43%) support sending more military aid to Israel, while 46% of Independents support additional aid and 47% oppose it.
Age was a factor too in terms of additional aid to Israel. Those 50-64 (63% to 31%) and those 65-years-old and older (69% to 23%) support more military aid to Israel, while 50% of those 35-49 oppose additional aid, while 44% support it.
An overwhelming majority of respondents (84%) is either very (43%) or somewhat (41%) concerned that the United States will be drawn into a military conflict in the Middle East, per the poll. Republicans (52%) and Independents (47%) are likelier to be very concerned than Democrats (30%).
“American voters watching the cauldron of the Middle East reaching a furious boiling point are fearful the war, so far confined to Israel and Gaza, will metastasize to include U.S. troops,” stated Tim Malloy, a Quinnipiac University polling analyst.
Of the registered voters polled, 75% said that prejudice against Jews is either a very or somewhat serious concern—“the highest percentage thinking that prejudice against Jewish people in the United States is a serious problem since the Quinnipiac University Poll began asking the question in 2017,” per the poll.
Some 68% said prejudice against Muslim people in the United States today is either a very or somewhat serious problem.
