As of: March 28, 2024, 9:47 a.m
Comments
Press
Split
People search through the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Asra housing complex, northwest of Nuseirat in the Gaza Strip, March 25, 2024. © Omar Ashtawy/Imago
In the USA, dissatisfaction with the Gaza war is growing - on both sides. President Biden faces a challenge.
Washington, DC - Most Americans disapprove of Israel's war in Gaza, according to a Gallup poll released Wednesday - a downward trend in Americans' opinion of the war.
More than half of Americans - 55 percent - said they disapprove of Israel's military action in Gaza, while 36 percent approve of it, according to the poll, which surveyed 1,016 U.S. adults this month. Nine percent said they had no opinion on the issue. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.
War in Israel: Approval falls among both Democrats and Republicans
The poll shows growing dissatisfaction among Americans with Israel's war in Gaza. A November Gallup poll found that 50 percent of Americans approve of Israel's actions in Gaza, while 45 percent oppose the war and 4 percent have no opinion. The conflict, which has now left more than 32,490 Palestinians dead, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and militants, followed the Oct. 7 attack by the militant group Hamas in Israel that killed about 1,200 people were killed.
Read The Washington Post for free for four weeks
Your quality ticket from washingtonpost.com: Get exclusive research and 200+ stories free for four weeks.
Support for the war has fallen among both Republicans and Democrats, although those groups remain divided: 64 percent of Republicans and 18 percent of Democrats support Israel's military action, according to the March poll. That sentiment has fallen among supporters of both parties since November: Back then, 71 percent of Republicans said they approved of Israel's war in Gaza, while 36 percent of Democrats did.
Many Americans also disagree with the United States sending more military aid to Israel for its war against Hamas, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday. More than half of U.S. voters, 52 percent, oppose more military aid, while 39 percent support it. This was revealed by a survey of 1,569 U.S. adults conducted March 21-25. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
Poll on the Gaza war: Biden's handling of the conflict is causing problems
A survey conducted last month by the Pew Research Center and released last week found that opinions about the war are also divided across religious lines: 62 percent of American Jews think Israel's conduct of the war is acceptable, while 5 percent of American Muslims think so represent opinion.
My news
Nasty scam with the Rosenheim cops: Actors pack with atrocities read out in their name
2 hours ago
Flixbus accident on A9 near Leipzig: Witnesses report bus accident - police correct reading of victim numbers
She had planned Gottschalk's visit to BR completely differently: Schöneberger lost his composure
“Brazen” Ukrainian attacks in Russia? Ex-US general warns of “terrible recommendation” read
Strong earthquake in Italy and Austria: Read “Heard a terrible bang”.
Princess Kate has cancer – this is how Victoria of Sweden and Mette-Marit of Norway react
President Biden faces re-election in November and is grappling with the consequences of his handling of the war. Some Arab Americans have said they will not vote for him because of his continued support for Israel during the war.
But the Gallup poll released Wednesday shows "two contradictory stories" about potential voters' views of Biden, according to Robert Satloff, chair of U.S. Middle East policy at the Washington Institute, a Washington-based think tank. On the one hand, Americans are “increasingly frustrated” with the war in Gaza, including Biden’s “support for Israel’s right to self-defense,” Satloff said. On the other hand, dissatisfaction with the war has not affected Biden's approval rating.
Biden faces problems: “Hamas-Israel war a challenge”
Jeffrey M. Jones, a senior editor at Gallup, noted in his analysis of the Gallup poll that "although Americans rate Biden's handling of the conflict poorly, his overall job approval rating is no lower now than before the conflict began." Americans also do not rate the war as one of the most important problems facing the United States, he wrote. However, the conflict "could harm the president by dampening turnout among potential Biden voters who care deeply about the issue and are upset about his handling of the situation," Jones continued.
“The key takeaway is that the Hamas-Israel war is a challenge to White House policy, not the political side,” Satloff said. “While that may change if major military operations continue into the summer, these numbers should reassure nervous Biden supporters who fear his support for Israel poses a political liability.”
Ceasefire between Israel and Hamas: USA held back on resolution
The Biden administration has expressed frustration with Israel's behavior in Gaza in recent weeks. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant at a meeting at the Pentagon on Tuesday that "the number of civilian casualties in Gaza today is far too high and humanitarian assistance is far too low."
The United States abstained from voting in the United Nations Security Council on Monday on a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, allowing the measure to pass. The resolution — and the U.S. abstention — angered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who canceled a planned visit by Israeli officials to Washington. The United States typically vetoes measures deemed anti-Israel.
To the author
Bryan Pietsch
is a foreign reporter in the International Department based in Washington DC. He previously worked in Seoul, where he was the first reporter in the Post's news center there.
We are currently testing machine translations. This article was automatically translated from English into German.
This article was first published in English on March 28, 2024 at the “Washingtonpost.com” - as part of a cooperation, it is now also available in translation to readers of the IPPEN.MEDIA portals.