Washington —The Hamas attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 sparked international attention and raised tensions in an already conflicted region. As the situation in Gaza has progressed, American public opinion about the war has fluctuated. In October, following the start of the war, 62% of Americans believed that the U.S. should support Israel. However, that number dropped to 36% by February.
“I didn't expect it would continue to be an issue in the presidential campaign over a year later, but now I'm beginning to have a little different sense,” said pollster and analyst Scott Rasmussen. “In the Spring we saw that when campus protests erupted, support for Israel went up,” signaling a correlation between American interest in foreign affairs and the impact those affairs are having on American soil.
Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington, D.C. and addressed Congress. Meanwhile, Pro-Palestinian protestors descended upon the Capitol in disapproval of his appearance. Demonstrators paraded an edifice of the Israeli leader with bloodied face and hands, waved banners calling for a ceasefire, and spray-painted public property.
As Rasmussen described it, “It was stunning — jarring — to see ‘Hamas’ being painted on these buildings in Washington, D.C., in our nation’s capital.”
Twenty-two percent of voters said they wanted their representative to boycott Netanyahu’s Congressional address. Despite this and continued international pressure on Israel to agree to the terms of a ceasefire, 41% of Americans approve of the way Israel has responded to the attacks by Hamas. This number is up one percent from 40% in May.
“The bottom line is,” said Rasmussen, “if these protests continue into the fall, if we see them at the Democratic National Convention, if campuses are erupting, that’s very bad news for the Democratic Party.”
Crystal Brockington
