A strong majority of Americans hold Hamas, rather than Israel, responsible for the ongoing Gaza war, according to data published by the Pew Research Center on Friday.
According to the data, nearly twice the number of respondents (65%), said that Hamas bears a lot of responsibility for the war compared to those who said the same of the Israeli government (35%).
Notably, there was a schism between Democrat and Republican respondents, as well as older and younger respondents.
While nearly all groups assigned more blame to Hamas than the Israeli government for the war, Republicans were more likely to do so than Democrats. Further, young Democrats aged 18-29 years old were the only respondents to assign more blame to the Israeli government than to Hamas.
Younger respondents being more anti-Israel is consistent with data from an October Harvard CAPS / Harris poll which found only 52% of respondents aged 18-24 sided with Israel over Hamas.
Further, in a global survey commissioned by the Open Society Foundations published in September of this year, the youngest age bracket was the most likely to say that army rule is a good way of running a country (42%). This age bracket, those aged 18-35, was also the most likely to say that having a leader who does not bother with parliament or elections is a good way of running a country (35%).
Concern of growing antisemitism, Islamophobia
There was, however, bipartisan agreement among those “very” or “extremely” concerned about the war leading to increased violence against Jewish people in the US, with 48% of all respondents answering thusly.
An additional 31% of all respondents said they were “somewhat” concerned about this possibility. Less than one-fifth (19%), said they were “not at all” concerned.
Respondents were also, overall, concerned about the war leading to increased violence against Muslims in the US, with 37% saying they were “very” or “extremely” concerned, 31% saying they were “somewhat” concerned, and 30% saying they were “not at all” concerned.
Again, the likelihood of a respondent saying they were concerned about the war leading to increased violence against Jews was directly correlated with age. The oldest age bracket, those 65 and above, were the most likely to be concerned and the youngest bracket, those 18-29 were the least likely.
Those aged 18-29 were more likely to be “very” or “extremely” concerned about rising anti-Muslim violence in the US (44%) than about rising anti-Jewish violence in the US (39%).
According to data published by Statista in October of this year, in the US, hate crimes against Jews comprised more than half (55%) of all anti-religion hate crime incidents.
In fact, according to Statista, Jews were targeted over six times as often as the next most targeted religious group, Sikh people.
Approval of Joe Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war
Regarding the handling of the Israel-Hamas war by US President Joe Biden, there was overall disapproval. As with the other issues addressed by the Pew polling, there were differences between the various age brackets and political affiliations.
Republicans were consistently more likely to disapprove of Biden’s performance than their Democrat peers in the same age bracket, and the younger the respondent, the more likely they were to disapprove of Biden’s performance.
Even among the oldest age bracket, only half of Democrats approved of Joe Biden’s handling of the war.
Nevertheless, the majority of respondents said they were unsure if President Biden was striking the right balance between Israelis and Palestinians or (38%) that Biden was striking the right balance between Israelis and Palestinians (25%)
Just over a fifth (21%) of respondents said the president was favoring the Israelis too much and 16% said he was favoring the Palestinians too much.
Israel’s approach to the war
Regarding Israel’s military actions against Hamas, the largest proportion said that Israel was either taking the right approach (25%) or not going far enough (16%). Just over a quarter (27%) said that Israel was going too far and another 32% said they were unsure.
Again, Republicans were far more likely to agree that Israel was either taking the right approach or not going far enough than Democrats, 45% of whom said Israel was going too far.
What happens after the war?
A slim majority of respondents (52%) felt hopeful that a two-state solution was still possible in the future. Among Democrats or those who leaned Democrat, this was true of 62% and among Republicans, or those who leaned Republican, this was true of 43%.