Almost half of Democrats in new survey disapprove of Biden’s response to Israel-Hamas war

A new survey shows a deep divide within the Democratic Party on President Biden’s response to the war between Israel and Hamas.

Almost half of all Democrats — 46 percent — disapprove of Biden’s handling of the war, according to a Thursday poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs. Fifty percent said they approve.

Asked about his handling of the general Israel-Palestinian conflict, Democrats are less supportive of Biden’s response than they were in a similar poll conducted in August — when 57 percent of Democrats approved of the response and 40 percent disapproved.

Most Democrats who approve of Biden’s handling of the conflict, nearly 70 percent, said the U.S. is providing the right amount of support for Israel. Most Democrats who disapprove, about 65 percent, said the United States is too supportive of Israel.

About 76 percent of Democrats who approve of Biden’s handling of the war said Hamas has a lot of responsibility for the war, while 32 percent said the same about the Israeli government.

Democrats who disapprove of Biden’s handling of the war, however, are just as likely to put responsibility on the Israeli government as they are on Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization: 56 percent said the Israeli government, and 55 percent said Hamas.

The latest conflict started when Hamas launched a surprise attack on the southern border of Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,400 Israelis. The Palestinian militant group also took about 240 hostages.

Israel has responded with a barrage of airstrikes on Gaza, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war would continue until all of the hostages were retrieved. The Israeli military is also looking to eradicate the group.

The Israeli military’s subsequent attacks have resulted in strong backlash among Democrats in the U.S., many of whom have participated in demonstrations calling for a cease-fire. According to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, the death toll recently passed a significant threshold of 10,000 Palestinian lives.  

Biden’s initial response to the conflict was to embrace Israel completely.

A former chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden leaned on his extensive foreign policy experience and decades-long relationship with Netanyahu as he responded to the war. He has urged a pause in the airstrikes to allow humanitarian aid to get through.

The poll, conducted Nov. 2-6, included interviews with 1,239 adults and an overall margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.

The Associated Press contributed.