Americans overwhelmingly back Israel over Hamas in new poll showing college ... trends now
A new poll shows the vast majority of Americans support Israel in its war against Hamas over the militant group despite the pro-Palestinian protests erupting across the United States.
The Harvard CAPS-Harris survey found 80 percent of registered voters support Israel more in the war while only 20 percent say they support Hamas more.
The results break down more among age groups with older voters more likely to be supportive of Israel than younger Americans.
The poll findings are similar to what they were last month when 79 percent said they support Israel more.
Among younger Americans, 64 percent of those ages 25 to 34 said they support Israel more while 57 percent of those ages 18 to 24 said they support Israel more while the rest support Hamas more.
Protesters rally at Columbia University on April 29. Poll finds vast majority of registered voters support Israel over Hamas in the conflict but it split largely by age
It comes as pro-Palestinian protests are taking place on college campuses across the country with students setting up encampments including at schools such as Columbia and New York University, University of Pennsylvania, Virginia Tech, University of Georgia.
In many of the cases, students have demanded that the universities divest from Israel-linked companies protesters claim are profiting off the war in Gaza.
Depending on the location, protesters have been met with police arrests and sometimes suspensions.
School administrators have called in police forces to remove encampments and protestors at schools such as Harvard, Columbia, Emory , NYU, USC, the University of Texas , Cal-Berkley and Brown
The exact wording on the polling matters greatly to the response. While the vast majority of registered voters support Israel over Hamas, when asked about a permanent ceasefire, not Hamas, 70 percent said they favor a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
But when asked if they favor or oppose a ceasefire if that meant Hamas could continue to hold hostages and continue to run Gaza, 68 percent opposed it which was also split along age groups.
The polling also found, the majority believes a ceasefire should happen only after the release of all Israeli hostages taken in Hamas' October 7 attack.
61
