More than half of American voters now oppose the military action that Israel has taken in Gaza, according to a new Gallup poll which recorded the highest disapproval rating among Americans since the Israel-Hamas war started five months ago.
The poll, published Wednesday, found that 55 percent of Americans disapprove of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, a ten-point increase since Gallup first asked the question last fall. In contrast, 36 percent currently approve of Israel’s war effort and 9 percent say they have no opinion. In November, 50 percent of Americans approved and 4 percent had no opinion.
Representing a shift in public opinion on the conflict, the survey comes as Israel prepares a ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The international community, including the U.S., has called on Israel to abandon its plans for an offensive in Rafah, where more than 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are located as the war persists.
The latest poll shows that all three major partisan groups in the U.S. are not as supportive of Israel as they were in November, with Democratic support sharply dropping from 36 percent to 18 percent. Independent support similarly decreased from 47 percent to 29 percent, whereas Republicans remained the most supportive out of the three groups with a current approval rating of 64 percent toward Israel. However, Republicans still dropped seven points down from 71 percent.
Additionally, 74 percent of Americans said they are following news of the Israel-Hamas war closely and 34 percent said they are following the situation “very closely.” But regardless of how much news about the conflict voters are consuming, disapproval of Israel’s military campaign remains relatively the same, Gallup concluded.
“However, those paying less attention are more likely than their counterparts to have no opinion on the matter, resulting in lower approval than seen among people paying greater attention,” the pollster added.
Other recent polls have similar findings: Earlier this month, the Pew Research Center reported that half of Americans said the U.S. should provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza more than providing military aid to Israel. And according to an AP/NORC poll released in February, half of respondents believe that Israel’s military response to October 7 has “gone too far.”
While Americans are less supportive of Israel, their opinions of both Israel and the Palestinian Authority are down from previous years. Gallup conducted a separate survey, in which 58 percent of Americans favor the Jewish state over 18 percent that favor the Palestinian government body.
The latest Gallup survey, conducted from March 1-20, was released two days after the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ends April 9. The resolution also demanded the immediate, unconditional release of all hostages remaining in Hamas’s custody.
The U.S. notably abstained from voting on the resolution on Monday rather than veto it, exacerbating tensions between Israel and the U.S. even further. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a delegation visit to Washington, D.C., following the decision.