Growing number of Americans say US supports Israel too much in Gaza war, poll shows
Compared with last year, more Americans now say the United States supports Israel too much in its war in Gaza — despite a large partisan divide on the issue — according to a survey by the nonpartisan Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
Fifty-three percent of Democrats said the U.S. supports Israel too much, up from 40% last year. Forty-two percent of independents now say the same thing, an eight-point increase from 2024.
Among Republicans, nearly half say that the U.S. is “striking about the right balance” in support for Israel in the war. Last year, in polls taken during the Biden presidency, 40% said the U.S. was not supporting Israel enough. This year, only 14% say that — a 26-point drop.
The figures released Thursday are based on a survey of a national sample of 2,148 adults in the U.S., fielded in mid- to late July through the Ipsos KnowledgePanel, a panel recruited through random sampling of U.S. households. The results carry a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points.
Driven mostly by Democrats and independents, more Americans now say the United States supports Israel too much — a total of 37% this year, compared with 30% last year. Only 10% of all Americans surveyed said the U.S. is not supporting Israel enough.
A quarter of respondents said the U.S. was striking the right balance, while approximately another quarter said they were not sure. Meanwhile, 40% of Americans say the U.S. is not providing enough aid to civilians in Gaza, up from 30% last year.
For decades, U.S. military aid to Israel has mostly been a matter of near-bipartisan consensus. The United States has provided Israel with more than $200 billion in security assistance since World War II.
The amount of security assistance from the U.S. surged last year as Israel ramped up its war in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Whereas the United States gave Israel $3.3 billion in military aid every year from 2019 to 2023, last year it gave Israel $6.8 billion.
The Biden administration approved billions in aid packages to Israel. The Trump administration has continued that support, even repealing a Biden-era memorandum that attempted to place limits on U.S. arms shipments to countries where the weapons’ use might violate human rights, amid concerns over international law violations by Israel’s military.
The Chicago Council survey also looked specifically at the American public’s thoughts on U.S. military aid to Israel. It found that more than 4 in 10 Democrats and independents believe that the United States was providing too much military aid to Israel. In contrast, 20% of Republicans think the same.
An August Quinnipiac University poll found 60% of registered voters opposed the U.S. sending more military aid to Israel, up from 41% in the first month after the war began.
The number of Republicans who say the United States is not providing enough military aid to Israel dropped from 34% last year to only 12% this year. Now, close to half of Republicans surveyed say U.S. military aid to Israel is at the right amount.
American support for Palestinian statehood remained mostly stable. Around half of all adults supported establishing an independent Palestinian state.
While a majority of Republicans oppose establishing an independent Palestinian state, more Republicans support an independent Palestinian state now than they did last year (35%, up from 27%).
A growing number of countries — including U.S. allies — have expressed support for recognizing a Palestinian state in recent months. France said it would recognize a Palestinian state, and Belgium said it would recognize it this month. Britain and Canada have also announced conditional plans to offer recognition.