We’ve observed an alarming increase in public and increasingly violent protests across the United States by supporters of Hamas and those who “blame” Israel for everything currently transpiring in the Middle East. I’ve been careful to note that polling has consistently shown that these are decidedly minority opinions, with most Americans supporting Israel and its right to defend itself. But even the smaller amount of support for Hamas is not homogenous from a demographic standpoint. A new poll from Cygnal reveals that support for Palestinians and Hamas is considerably stronger among some groups than others, including those who believe that the terror attacks on October 7 were somehow “justified.” Support for such views, perhaps unsurprisingly, was strongest among Muslim-Americans. (Daily Wire)
A new poll released late last week found that the majority of Muslim Americans believes that Hamas was “justified” in committing terrorist attacks against Israel.
The poll from Cygnal surveyed over 2,000 people from October 16-18 to gauge the public’s overall awareness and attitudes about what was happening in Israel.
A majority overall, 50.6%, have a positive opinion of Israel compared to only 12% who have a negative opinion while 37% were neutral. The two groups that had the highest negative views of Israel were Muslim Americans at 36.5% and Democrats at 15.7%.
We should once again note that the number of Americans who hold a “negative” view of Israel remains quite small. Just 12% overall consider themselves to be in that category. The “neutral” number was a bit higher than we’ve seen in previous polls, which was at least somewhat surprising. 37% (or more than one-third) chose neutral. This may be an outlier in that regard, or it might suggest that the protracted nature of the conflict and complaints about an Israeli ground incursion could be softening that support.
The groups most strongly supporting Israel were Jewish Americans (and you would probably expect) and Republicans. The lowest levels of support were recorded among Muslim-Americans and Democrats. The most alarming figure was the solid majority (57.5%) of Muslim-Americans who agreed with the statement that “Hamas was justified in attacking Israel as part of their struggle for a Palestinian State.”
The poll additionally revealed that Muslim-Americans were far less educated about the events that have taken place in Israel and Gaza this month than the general population. More than a third (34.1%) said they were “not aware” that Hamas had decapitated babies during the initial attack. By contrast, just 10.8% of Jewish Americans were similarly unaware. (I was frankly shocked the number was even that high.)
So where are these trends coming from? Muslims only make up roughly one percent of the American population but they tend to lean Democrat by a more than two-to-one margin. In a running conflict between a predominantly Islamic culture and a largely Jewish one, there is probably a natural affinity to support “your team,” perhaps even if they are clearly engaged in terrorist activities. And the Democrats in the modern era have very much embraced a worldview where everyone can be neatly dropped into a category of either the oppressor or the oppressed. They claim to champion the oppressed and Muslim-Americans side with them, so they’re probably more than ready to embrace that narrative about the Jews of Israel.
We are all entitled to hope for a rapid end to this war, hopefully culminating in the complete destruction of Hamas and some sort of lasting peace or at least stability in the region. Sadly, a rapid end isn’t looking like the most likely scenario at this point, however. But the longer this drags on, the more I’m concerned that the strong pro-Israel numbers we’re seeing in these polls may begin to slide.
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