A new poll released before the Iran attack found that many Americans want President Biden to take a tougher stance on Israel and end the war with Hamas.
Thirty-four percent of respondents feel Biden is not “tough enough” on Israel, while 17% feel he is too tough and 26% think Biden is doing a good job. 24% are not sure. According to a Politico Morning Consult poll.
Although taken before Tehran launched an unprecedented military attack on Israel on Saturday, the poll sheds light on the thorny politics Biden is dealing with at home toward Israel.
Democrats in particular appear to want Biden to take a tougher stance on America’s key ally in the Middle East, with 33% feeling that Biden is “not tough enough on Israel.” This compares to 12% of Republicans and 19% of independents.
Just 8% of Democrats said they felt Biden was “too strong,” and 42% said the president’s handling of the situation was “appropriate.”
Additionally, 47% of the general public strongly supports the United States’ call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, with 20% somewhat supporting, 15% somewhat or strongly opposing, and 17% undecided.
Biden, 81, earlier this month pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire with Hamas in exchange for the hostages. He wants a pause in fighting to send vital humanitarian aid to Gaza.
But negotiations have repeatedly stalled amid growing concerns over how many hostages are still alive.
Still, despite debate over how much support Biden should have for Israel, surveys have found that multiple Americans support Israelis in the conflict.
When asked who they felt more sympathetic towards, 29% of respondents said they were more sympathetic to Israel, 14% to Palestinians, 37% were evenly divided on both sides, and 20% were unsure.
Among Democrats, 22% said they were more sympathetic to Palestinians, 16% said they were more sympathetic to Israelis, and 44% said both.
Meanwhile, Republicans sided with Israel over the Palestinians by a margin of 45% to 7%, while pro-independence voters narrowed the gap by a margin of 25% to 13%.
As for whether the U.S. should cut aid to Israel, 41% of Democrats support doing so, while 33% oppose it. In contrast, 33% of Americans overall supported cutting aid, while 44% opposed it.
The poll was conducted April 5-7 among 6,004 registered voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus one percentage point for the entire group surveyed.
Separately, CBS YouGov poll A growing number of Americans want Biden to pressure Israel to ease its military operations in its war with Hamas.
Asked what Biden should encourage Israel to do, 37% said it would halt military action and 23% said it would reduce military action. This is higher than the 28% who want Biden to push Israel to maintain its current level of action and the 12% who want to step up action.
This is up from 31% who want Biden to halt military action and 24% who want to reduce military action. By comparison, 32% want Mr. Biden to increase pressure on Israel to maintain the same level of behavior, and 13% want to go back to February with an increase.
When it comes to sympathy, 32% said they had “a lot” of sympathy for Israelis, and 46% said the same for Palestinians.
That’s a sharp reversal from October, when 44% said they sympathized with Israelis and 39% said they sympathized with Palestinians, according to the CBS poll.
Like Politico, the CBS poll was conducted ahead of Iran’s historically unprecedented attack on Israel.
When presented with the hypothesis that Iran would attack Israel, 25% supported military action against Iran, 42% wanted the U.S. to support Israeli action without military involvement, and 32% supported It was hoped that the United States would not be involved in military action.
The CBS poll was conducted April 9-12 among 2,399 adults and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
