USA TODAY/Suffolk University
March 8-11, 2024
The Details
1. Amongst all age groups, between 40-50% of Americans feel more pressure should be exerted on Israel to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
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Forty-nine percent voters ages 18 to 34 said Biden needs to put more pressure on Israel to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as did 48% of those ages 35 to 49. Note, however, that the survey sampled less than 80 of this age group, out of 1,000, and so we shouldn’t give too much credence to this finding.
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The percentages were only slightly smaller among older Americans (41% of those 50 to 64 and 43% of those 65 and older. The bleeding from younger generations towards older cohorts should concern Israel tremendously.
2. Views that Biden should do more to help the Palestinians are more widespread among Democrats (69%) and those who identify as independent/other (49%). Just 18% of Republicans share that belief.
3. A third of Americans believe Biden should do more to support Israel’s security.
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The highest percentage that holds this view is aged between 50-64.
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Just 26% of those aged 18-34 agreed with this position.
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The belief that more should be done to support Israel is highest among Republicans (60%). Just 18% of Democrats and 24% of independents/others expressed that view.
Key Takeaways
Nearly half of American voters, 45%, believe Biden should pressure Israel to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. This is a matter of crucial importance to the American audience, one that is not being addressed seriously enough in Israel’s narrative, especially coming from the government.
We’re seeing a worrying and growing trend of dissatisfaction with Israel’s actions in Gaza “bleed” from the younger generations into the mainstream of the American public. To meet this challenge, the official Israeli narrative should be highlighting what we’re doing to provide humanitarian relief to the Gazans, and what our vision for the “Day After” for Gaza looks like. Without those two important messages, we will find it increasingly difficult to continue the ground incursion without major repurcussions from the world’s leaders.
As we’ve seen before, Democrats are far more critical of Israel than Republicans are, and this may be why we’re hearing statements like we’ve never heard before from ostensibly Israel-supporters in the American administration, against Israel’s behavior (e.g. Chuck Schumer’s statement this week).