Majority of US Democratic voters favour wide-ranging punitive measures against Israel, poll shows
میدل-ایست-آی - 1404-07-11 21:41:48
Majority of US Democratic voters favour wide-ranging punitive measures against Israel, poll shows
US voters who identify as Democrats are now in clear support of punitive measures against Israel for what they agree is a genocide taking place in Gaza, survey results released on Friday showed.
The poll was carried out for the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project, as well as Gen-Z for Change, and conducted by YouGov among 1,221 likely Democratic voters.
Eighty percent of all respondents said the US should reduce its support for Israel, and 72 percent agreed that Israel is carrying out a genocide in Gaza. Sixty-five percent of respondents said they want some form of sanctions to be imposed as a result.
All those figures increased among respondents aged 18-29, at times by 10 percentage points or more.
Pollsters then blindly split that 1,221 figure roughly in half, and posed more specific questions about sanctions. One group was asked the questions with the context that similar policies had been enacted against Apartheid South Africa, and the other was asked the questions directly, with no implication.
Perhaps surprisingly, those who responded to the questions without historical context showed higher rates of support for punitive measures against Israel.
When asked if there should be a ban on extending credit to the Israeli government, including the purchase of Israel bonds by local, state and federal governments, 76 percent said yes. A similar number said there should also be import restrictions on Israeli-made weapons and cybersecurity software.
Sixty-two percent of respondents in the no-context category also agreed the US should prohibit the entrance to the US of Israeli government officials and soldiers, and end all cooperation and intelligence sharing between the US and Israeli militaries.
Asked if the US should send weapons to Israel via taxpayer funds, one randomised half of respondents said no at 71 percent.
The other group was asked the same question, with the caveat that Israel would fully pay for its weapons purchases. This half also said no, at 63 percent.
At least 55 percent of all 1,221 respondents to the poll indicated they would only support a congressional candidate who voted against sending taxpayer-funded weapons to Israel. In the 18-29-year-old category, there was a significant jump of close to 10 percentage points.
The poll was carried out between 11-24 September and has a margin of error of three percent, give or take.
"What was once dismissed as radical is now mainstream: Democratic voters believe their tax dollars should not fund apartheid. This moment did not arrive suddenly. It was built on decades of resistance and unyielding demands for dignity," Cheyenne Hunt, executive director of Gen-Z for Change, said in a statement.
"The question before Democratic leadership is: will they finally listen, or will they continue to deny this reality and suffer the consequences of ignoring the overwhelming mandate of their voters? Oppression is not an anomaly—it is a consequence of policy".
Margaret DeReus, the executive director of the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project, warned that "Democratic Party leadership must finally recognize this undeniable reality and listen to their voter base, or they risk repeating their disastrous loss in 2024".
Out of step with party base
Democratic lawmakers, even beyond the progressive wing of the party, are slowly catching up.
A letter circulated by California Congressman Ro Khanna has so far obtained the signatures of 48 Democrats in the House of Representatives, calling on the Trump administration to recognise a Palestinian state.
"The recognition would come by embracing the 22-state Arab League Plan... that calls for a Palestinian state and the recognition of Israel as a Jewish democratic state,” the letter said.
The effort is, by all accounts, a long shot, given this White House has deep religious and financial ties to Israel, but it sends a message to voters ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, and the 2028 presidential election.
The leaders of the Democratic Party's centrist, mainstream establishment, meanwhile, remain largely out of touch with voters, if other recent polls on Israel are anything to go by.
Both House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer have openly reaffirmed their support for Israel, despite the rapidly changing circumstances of the war on Gaza over the last two years.
Late last month, 30 House Democrats - all of whom have accepted funding from the powerful pro-Israel lobby - wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging him to work more closely with Israel, as well as the Arab League, toward three objectives: the freeing of the Israeli soldiers who are captives in Gaza; the removal of Hamas from Gaza; and "de-escalation" in the enclave.
There was no mention of the more than 66,000 known dead in Gaza, the majority of whom are women in children, nor references to what the United Nations has deemed a genocide in Gaza, or even the international arrest warrant out for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
"We believe this approach is far more constructive than recent unilateral and performative recognitions of a Palestinian state by other nations, which risk emboldening Hamas, entrenching division, and undermining the very legitimacy and peace such recognition purports to advance," the lawmakers said.
More than 80 percent of the world's population, represented by 157 of 193 member states of the UN, now recognise the legitimacy of a Palestinian state.
The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) denounced the letter.
"We respectfully disagree and urge you to reconsider. Recognition of Palestine is neither unilateral nor symbolic. It is an acknowledgment of undeniable reality," the organisation said.
"The Israeli government's official opposition to Palestinian statehood is not a matter of timing but of outright denial. Recognition is therefore not a unilateral step, but a necessary corrective to an orchestrated Israeli government campaign to erase Palestinian sovereignty".
