Professor Shibley Telhami, Director of the Critical Issues Poll, released an article analyzing the findings on how the first two weeks of the war in Israel and Gaza impacted American public attitudes on US policy toward Israel and the Palestinians.
Rather than asking direct questions about the war itself, we chose to focus on a broader exploration of change in attitudes toward US foreign policy and toward the Biden administration on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. We have been probing some of these attitudes for many years, including last June, which puts us in a position to compare possible shifts in attitudes that could be related to the ongoing war. One of the key findings is that despite the war, American public attitudes remain highly partisan, with a majority of Republicans wanting the US to lean toward Israel and majorities of Democrats and Independents wanting to lean toward neither side. At the same time, support for Israel has increased since last June while support for the Palestinians has remained roughly the same. It is notable that there was no change in the attitudes of young Democrats (under 35). The poll also probes attitudes toward Biden's stance on the Israeli-Palestinian issue and whether or not his position is likely to influence the way respondents would vote in the 2024 presidential election.
