A new study has found that most Americans don’t want the United States to take over Gaza.Â
It also found that Americans across age groups and party lines feel less favourably toward Israel than they did before 7 October, 2023, and that views of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are divided along partisan lines.
The survey by the Pew Research Centre found that 62 percent of Americans oppose Trump’s oft-repeated proposal that the United States should take over Gaza — including 49 percent who strongly oppose the idea — while 15 percent support it. In the president’s own party, 44 percent oppose the idea and 27 percent support it.
But 46 percent of Americans say it is somewhat or very likely that Trump will pursue the policy. The poll was published Tuesday and conducted prior to Trump’s meeting this week with Netanyahu, when he again floated the policy.
In addition, the survey found that 53 percent of Americans overall have an unfavourable view of Israel, compared to 42 percent in 2022. Favourable views have fallen in a range of demographics:
- 37 percent of Republicans view Israel unfavourably, compared to 27 percent in 2022.
- 69 percent of Democrats view Israel unfavourably, compared to 53 percent in 2022.
- Young people in both parties have relatively high unfavorables toward Israel: 50 percent of Republicans under 49, and 71 percent of Democrats in that age group, view Israel unfavourably.
The only U.S. religious groups that have a majority favourable view toward Israel are Jews (at 73 percent) and Protestants (at 57 percent), according to the survey. In particular, 72 percent of white evangelicals view Israel favourably. Catholics are split at 53 percent unfavourable and 45 percent favourable. Among Muslims, 81 percent have an unfavourable view of Israel.
The results dovetail with a Gallup poll published in February that also found declining favourability toward Israel among Americans.
The Pew survey also found that Republicans and Democrats are split on Netanyahu: 51 percent of Republicans are confident that he will do the right thing, compared with 15 percent of Democrats. Overall, just 32 percent of Americans say they have confidence in him.
Among American Jews, 53 percent do not have confidence in Netanyahu and 45 percent do. The only U.S. religious group to demonstrate confidence in Netanyahu is white evangelical Protestants.
