 "Palestinians carry sacks of flour unloaded from a humanitarian aid convoy that reached Gaza City from the northern Gaza Strip. AP")
According to a recent Gallup poll, just over one-third of US adults now support Israel’s military action in Gaza, a significant decrease from the start of the war with Hamas, when roughly half of Americans supported Israel’s operation.
Additionally, according to the latest survey, Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, is now seen negatively by around half of US citizens, the lowest percentage since he was initially included in Gallup polls in 1997. The survey was carried out between July 7 and July 21, just before President Donald Trump voiced worry over the deteriorating humanitarian situation and before reports of famine in Gaza prompted worldwide condemnation of Israel’s decision to limit food deliveries.
The findings highlight the Israeli government’s significant loss of support in the United States. However, not everyone is changing; rather, the conflict has widened the political divide. The increased dissatisfaction is being led by Democrats and independents, who are considerably less inclined to support Israel’s conduct than they were in November 2023, shortly after Israel expanded its ground attack in Gaza.
In contrast, Republicans continue to back Netanyahu and Israel’s military efforts.
The majority of Americans now oppose Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
According to a recent survey, roughly 60% of American adults now oppose Israel’s military action in Gaza, up from 45% in November 2023.
Support for the war has been dwindling in Gallup’s polling for some time. In March 2024, about half of US adults disapproved of Israel’s military action in Gaza, which fell slightly as the year wore on.
In a new low, only 8% of Democrats and one-quarter of independents say they now approve of Israel’s military campaign. Some of that decline may be attributed to the change in administration. While former President Joe Biden faced significant pushback from fellow Democrats on his handling of the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians, they may be even more frustrated by the approach of Trump, a Republican.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsYoung adults are also much more likely to disapprove of Israel’s actions. Only about 1 in 10 adults under age 35 say they approve of Israel’s military choices in Gaza, compared with about half of those who are 55 or older.
Gallup senior editor Megan Brenan says the latest figures reflect the enduring partisan divide. Even as Democrats grow increasingly unhappy with Israel’s military campaign, Republicans remain supportive.
“We’ve seen this drop in approval since last fall, and it’s really driven by Democrats and independents,” Brenan says. “Republicans are still willing to be in this for the time being.”
Netanyahu’s favorability among US adults is historically low
Views of Netanyahu have also grown less favorable over the past few years, with more viewing him negatively than positively in measurements taken since the war in Gaza began.
About half of US adults, 52%, now have an unfavorable view of Netanyahu in the new poll, which overlapped with Netanyahu’s recent visit to the US Just 29% view him positively, and about 2 in 10 either haven’t heard of him or don’t have an opinion.
That’s a change — although not a huge one — since December 2023, when 47% of US adults had an unfavorable view of Netanyahu and 33% had a favorable opinion. But it’s a reversal from as recently as April 2019, when more US adults viewed him positively than negatively.
Republicans have a much more positive view of Netanyahu than Democrats and independents do. About two-thirds of Republicans view him favorably, which is in line with last year. About 1 in 10 Democrats and 2 in 10 independents feel the same way.
“This is the first time we’ve seen a majority of Americans, with an unfavorable view of him,” Brenan says. “All of these questions in this poll show us basically the same story, and it’s not a good one for the Israeli government right now.”
Trump is unlikely to face the same pressure on his approach to Israel
More than half of US adults, 55%, disapprove of Trump’s handling of the situation in the Middle East, according to a July AP-NORC poll.
But the conflict has not weighed as heavily on Trump as it did on Biden, who watched Democrats splinter on the issue. That’s because of Trump’s solid support from his base on this issue, further reflected in Republicans’ continued approval of Israel’s military action. About 8 in 10 Republicans approve of Trump’s handling of the situation in the Middle East. By contrast, only about 4 in 10 Democrats approved of Biden’s handling of the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians last summer, shortly before he dropped out of the presidential race.
In an AP-NORC poll from March, Republicans were significantly more likely than Democrats and independents to say they sympathized more with the Israelis than with the Palestinians in the conflict.
And while Americans overall were more likely to say it was “extremely” or “very” important for the United States to provide humanitarian relief to Palestinians in Gaza than to say the same about providing aid to Israel’s military, Republicans said the opposite — more saw military aid to Israel as a higher priority than providing humanitarian relief to the Palestinians in Gaza.