Palestinians ride in the back of a vehicle as they move toward safer areas following the resumption of Israeli strikes on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Dec. 1. A large majority of Americans say Hamas bears “a lot” of responsibility for the current war, although they are more skeptical of how President Joe Biden has responded. Photo by Getty Images

By Arno Rosenfeld December 8, 2023

Far more Americans, 65%, say Hamas holds a lot of responsibility for its war with Israel than say the same of the Israeli government, 35%. 

That’s the finding of a Pew Research Center poll released Friday which also found bipartisan concern over the prospect of increased violence against Jews in the U.S., with roughly half of both Republicans and Democrats saying they were extremely or very worried about it. 

But respondents’ likelihood to assign a lot of blame to Hamas over Israel for the war does not seem to translate into support for President Joe Biden’s approach to the conflict, in which he has strongly backed Israel. Its offensive in Gaza has, according to Hamas officials, killed more than 15,000 in the two months since Oct. 7, when the terror group killed 1,200 in Israel and kidnapped 240 to Gaza.

Forty-one percent disapprove of Biden’s response, compared to 35% percent who approve. 

Both young people and Republicans expressed the lowest levels of support, with only 19% of those 18-29 and 28% of Republicans approving of Biden’s handling of the war.

The age gap also appeared on the question of responsibility for the war. Though two-thirds of respondents overall said Hamas has a lot of responsibility, among those ages 18 to 29, 46% believe Hamas has “a lot” of responsibility, while 42% say that about Israel.

This same age group takes the dimmest view of Israel’s military operations. A majority of young Democrats believe Israel is “going too far,” compared to 27% of Americans overall.

Varying levels of concern about violence against Jews, Muslims

The poll also showed a divide among younger and older Americans on concerns over violence against American Jews: 62% of those 65 and older were very concerned about possible violence against Jews, compared to 39% percent of those 18-29. The youngest group also expressed the highest level of concern about violence against Muslims — 44% were very concerned, compared to 33% of those over 65.

The survey did not ask specifically about antisemitism but it asked respondents about their levels of concern around increased violence toward Jews and Muslims. A Jewish protester died after he was hit in the head by a pro-Palestinian protester in Los Angeles and a 6-year-old Palestinian American was stabbed to death in Chicago in an attack that is being investigated as a hate crime. Three Palestinian college students were shot in Vermont two weeks ago.

While there were equal levels of concern about antisemitic violence in the U.S. among Democrats and Republicans, there was a large gap when it came to Islamophobic violence. Fifty-three percent of Democrats expressed concern about violence against Muslims, a slightly higher share than were concerned about antisemitism, while only 22% of Republicans said they were “extremely” or “very” concerned about it.

Previous polls have found similar views of the war among Americans in general, while Jewish Americans have expressed high levels of support for Biden’s approach to the conflict.

The web survey, which was conducted by Pew between Nov. 27 and Dec. 3, polled 5,203 people. The margin of error was plus or minus 1.8 percentage points.

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