Most in new poll support Israel’s military action against Hamas

Most Americans in a new poll said they support Israel’s military response to Hamas in the two months since the militant group launched a deadly attack on Israel.

The Wall Street Journal poll found that 55 percent of respondents said they believe Israel is taking the necessary action to defend itself and prevent Hamas from launching another attack. Twenty-five percent said that Israel’s actions are disproportionate and are going too far, while 20 percent said they did not know.

The survey also found Americans were more likely to sympathize with the Israeli people over the war, which broke out after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that left more than 1,200 people dead.

Forty-two percent of respondents said they sympathize more strongly or somewhat more strongly with the Israeli people instead of the Palestinians. Just 12 percent said they sympathized more with the Palestinians, while 33 percent said they sympathized with both sides equally.

The Journal noted political party affiliation was an indicator of whether someone was more likely to sympathize with the Israelis or Palestinians. Nearly 25 percent of Democrats said they sympathized with the Palestinians more, for example, while about 17 percent said the Israeli people.

More than two-thirds of Republicans in the new survey said they sided with the Israeli people more, with just 2 percent saying they sympathized with the Palestinian people more. Seventeen percent of Republicans said they sympathized with both sides equally.

This poll comes as Israeli forces have pushed into southern Gaza, where many residents had fled to escape shelling.

Many international organizations, humanitarian groups and policymakers have warned the situation in Gaza, as a result of Israeli attacks, has become dire. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said more than 17,000 Palestinians, including thousands of women and children, have been killed in the fighting so far.

When asked in the new poll about whether the amount of U.S. aid to Israel was the right amount, 22 percent of respondents said the U.S. was doing too much, 25 percent said it was doing too little and 37 percent said it was the right amount.

Additionally, 30 percent said the U.S. is giving the Palestinian people enough aid. Another 26 percent said the U.S. was giving too little and 21 percent said it was too much.

The poll was conducted among 1,500 registered voters from Nov. 29 to Dec. 4 and has a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.