Members of law enforcement enter a pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA on May 2 in Los Angeles. Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images

By Beth Harpaz May 2, 2024

A new survey found 47% of U.S. voters believe colleges should ban pro-Palestinian protests, compared to 30% who say the demonstrations should be permitted. A slightly smaller number — 41% — would ban pro-Israel protests.

The vast majority of voters — 76% — also said they support colleges asking police to protect campuses from violence. 

The survey was conducted April 27-28, before the latest police crackdowns of recent days, including the New York Police Department’s removal of activists who had occupied a building on the campus of Columbia University; the Los Angeles Police Department’s breakup of a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of California, Los Angeles, that had previously been attacked by pro-Israel demonstrators; and Thursday’s arrest of 90 people at Dartmouth College.

The survey, by Morning Consult, a U.S.-based business data and tech company, polled 1,986 registered voters nationwide. The reported unweighted margin of error was plus or minus 2 percentage points. 

More voters in the survey backed humanitarian aid for Palestinians (58%) than supported military aid to Israel (47%); 60% said they want to see a ceasefire.

Nearly half — 46% — of those surveyed support colleges condemning Hamas’ attacks on Israel. A third said that colleges should condemn Israel’s war in Gaza.

Fewer than 2 in 5 voters support the student-activists’ call for universities to divest from Israel, while 3 in 10 had no opinion on the matter. Support for divestment was strongest among the wealthiest and most highly educated households, which, Morning Consult pointed out, are the cohorts from which colleges solicit donations. 

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount