Laura Santhanam Laura Santhanam
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While a majority of Americans say their sympathies mostly lie with Israel in its war against Hamas, a growing number of Americans say Israel’s response has been too heavy-handed, and fewer people view it as about right compared to last month, according to a new PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll.
Overall, 38 percent of U.S. adults say Israel’s military response to Hamas has been “too much.” That marks a rise of 12 percentage points since October.
Americans are split over whether the United States should play a major role in world events, including Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine and the recent eruption of the Israel-Hamas war. That division extends to if Congress should authorize supplemental military funds for Ukraine and Israel, according to this latest poll.
Chart by Megan McGrew/PBS NewsHour
Thirty-six percent of U.S. adults said the nation should not approve more war funding in either Ukraine or in Israel, while 35 percent say the United States should support additional funding in both countries.
About half of Republicans and a majority of independents said the U.S. should assume a more limited role in global affairs, a result that “struck” Republican strategist Whit Ayres.
“We should not take the absence of a world war since 1945 for granted,” Ayres said.
Since the attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, Israel has launched a campaign of strikes and a ground offensive in Gaza, unleashing a harrowing humanitarian crisis. On Tuesday, Israeli defense forces entered Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital for what it described as a “precise and targeted operation.”
International humanitarian aid groups have demanded a cease-fire so that civilians, especially women, children, older people and those who are sick or injured, can safely flee Gaza. Israel agreed late last week to short humanitarian “pauses” to allow aid to enter and citizens to flee, the White House announced. President Joe Biden said he’d urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt fighting for a period of “longer than three days.”
On Monday, Biden said “it’s my hope and expectation that there will be less intrusive action relative to the hospital,” specifically. This latest poll found that a majority of Americans disagree with how the president is handling that war.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told the PBS NewsHour’s Amna Nawaz last week that the White House was “not going to armchair quarterback” every strike or decision by Israel.
But, Kirby added, “I think we would all agree that there have been too many civilians killed through the conduct of these operations. I think we agree that the death toll is high, and we don’t want to see any civilians killed. That’s why we’re going to continue to urge our Israeli counterparts to abide by the law of armed conflict and to respect innocent civilian life to the maximum extent possible.”
Divisions over how the U.S. should fund wars in Israel and Ukraine, where fighting has continued for nearly two years, “confirms the challenge” that Biden faces in asking Congress for supplemental funding, said Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report With Amy Walter.
Here are more results from the latest poll:
Chart by Megan McGrew/PBS NewsHour
The FBI and other top law enforcement agencies warned in October they’d “seen an increase in reports of threats against Jewish, Muslim, and Arab communities and institutions.” Several high-profile violent incidents against these communities have also emerged, including the Oct. 14 murder of Wadea al-Fayoume, a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy in Illinois. The March for Israel held Tuesday on the National Mall garnered the Homeland Security Department’s highest security designation, reserved for major events like the Super Bowl.
The PBS NewsHour, NPR and Marist Poll conducted a survey on Nov. 6 through Nov. 9 that polled 1,429 U.S. adults with a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points and 1,293 registered voters with a margin of error of 3.6 percentage points.
Left: Thousands of people attend the March for Israel on the National Mall on November 14, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images)
By Najib Jobain, Jack Jeffery, Lee Keath, Associated Press
By Wafaa Shurafa, Samy Magdy, Associated Press
By Associated Press
Laura Santhanam Laura Santhanam
Laura Santhanam is the Health Reporter and Coordinating Producer for Polling for the PBS NewsHour, where she has also worked as the Data Producer. Follow @LauraSanthanam
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