It’s rare in human history to have good versus evil so clearly shown, as we see today in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. Not since World War 2 have right and wrong been so unambiguously demonstrated on such a scale; not since the Holocaust have the Jewish people been targeted by such undisguised hate.
A plurality of Americans, though, appear to have not yet figured this out. In an eye-opening poll released Wednesday by Issues & Insights (I&I)/TIPP, results showed that 20 percent of Democrats support Hamas over Israel in the current conflict. But there’s a lot more to this poll than just that, unsettling though it may be.
When it comes to the Israel-Hamas war, Americans have made a clear choice: a significant majority support Israel, not Hamas, while an even larger majority now call antisemitism a “serious” problem, the latest I&I/TIPP Poll reveals.
But a shockingly high 20% of Democrats say they support Hamas in the current conflict, despite reports of blood-curdling barbarism committed against innocent Israeli men, women, and children. Just over half of Democrats say they support Israel.
Amid the backdrop of the Oct. 7 attacks against Israel by the terrorist group Hamas, I&I/TIPP asked Americans this question: “Generally speaking, in the Israel-Hamas conflict, do you side more with Israel or Hamas?” The national online poll of 1,400 adults was taken from Nov. 1-3, with a margin-of-error of +/-2.7 percentage points.
Of those responding, 58% sided with Israel, while just 11% supported Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip on Israel’s southern border. But there was a big unknown, given the polarizing effect the attack by Hamas (which killed 1,400 mostly civilian noncombatants, including women, children, and babies) had on public opinion: 31% “weren’t sure.”
While it’s disturbing that any number of Americans support Hamas — the only acceptable number here would be zero — Israel still has reason to feel pretty confident about America’s support. Looking solely at the percentages of respondents in each category who support Israel in this conflict, those numbers are as follows:
- Overall: 58% (31% unsure)
- Democrats: 54% (26% unsure)
- Republicans: 71% (22% unsure)
- Independents: 50% (44% unsure)
- Conservatives: 73% (17% unsure)
- Moderates: 50% (43% unsure)
- Liberals: 52% (27% unsure)
There’s an interesting trend there; in many issues, there is a spectrum of opinion that bends more or less smoothly from right to left, but in this case, it is independents and moderates that show the weakest support for Israel, with 44 percent and 43 percent “unsure,” respectively. That’s odd, and it’s difficult to imagine what the reason why that might be; are the moderates among us simply not political junkies and so are not as up-to-date on current events, including the horrors of October 7th? Or is there some other reason?
While it’s curious that independents and moderates seem the softest on support for Israel, the poll revealed that the biggest factor appears to be age.
Among those 18-24, essentially the college years for most, just 30% expressed support for Israel, while 17% backed Hamas and 53% responded “not sure.” The numbers for those 25-44 were a little higher for both Israel (46%) and Hamas (21%), while considerably lower for “not sure” (33%).
The numbers change dramatically with advancing age.
For those 45-64, 62% support Israel, with just 6% supporting Hamas. “Not sure” was 32%.
Most pro-Israel of all are those over 65. Why? One reason may be that many remember the Six-Day War in 1967, a stunning victory for the tiny country against a coalition of Arab states, followed six years later by a victory in the Yom Kippur war against many of the same nations.
Sadly, these numbers appear to not apply so much to journalists, 750 of whom recently signed a statement of support blaming Israel for, in effect, every bad thing that has happened in the region since 1948. But the pushback seems to be increasing, more with every video of Hamas atrocities that is released, and even some members of Congress are chiming in. But the best response to pro-Hamas ignoramuses to date comes from Canada, specifically from Montreal’s Concordia University, in which Concordia Professor Gad Saad showered the lunatics with sarcasm thinly veiled as understanding; well done, Mr. Saad.
It’s a terrible thing to contemplate, but perhaps some of these Hamas supporters might think differently if the many videos of Hamas atrocities and the aftermath of the October 7th attack were made widely available. It isn’t easy to understand how anyone could state support for these acts of savagery if they knew their full extent; one would sooner ascribe this support of Hamas to ignorance than malice. To say a fair number of American liberals in particular are, to put it mildly, poorly informed on the entire Israel/Hamas conflict is something of an understatement.
I went to the dc march for Palestine and met some highly educated people.#FreeGaza #HamasTerrorists #israel #BringThemBackHome pic.twitter.com/Way1ghKnr5
— Kosha Dillz (bring the family home) (@koshadillz) November 8, 2023
It’s enough to make one lose whatever faith one had left in American academia — which wasn’t much in the case of this correspondent.
