Half of US voters say Israel perpetrating genocide in Gaza: Poll
The poll also found that six in 10 US voters oppose Washington sending more military aid to Israel
Half of US voters believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.
That share includes 77% of Democrats and 51% of independents, says the poll released yesterday (27 August), reports Al Jazeera.
In contrast, a large majority of Republicans – 64% to 20% – do not think Israel is committing genocide, the poll found.
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The poll also showed growing opposition to US military aid for Israel. Six in 10 voters oppose sending additional assistance, which is the highest level since Quinnipiac began asking the question in November 2023.
Public sympathies are nearly evenly split: 37% of respondents said they sympathise more with Palestinians, while 36% sided with Israelis.
According to the survey, sympathy for Palestinians is at its highest, and sympathy for Israelis at its lowest, since the question was first posed in December 2001 by Quinnipiac.
"Support for the Palestinians grows while the appetite for funding Israel militarily dips sharply," Tim Malloy, Quinnipiac University polling analyst, said in a press release accompanying the poll. "And a harsh assessment of the way Israel is prosecuting the Gaza campaign invokes a word of infamy."
The survey polled 1,220 self-identified registered voters and carries a margin of error of ±3.4 percentage points.
Human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, an allegation Tel Aviv denies.
In January 2024, the International Court of Justice ruled that South Africa could pursue its genocide case against Israel, saying Palestinians had "plausible rights to protection from genocide."
And in November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former defence minister Yoav Gallant, and deceased Hamas commander Mohammed Deif on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Israel's devastating assault on Gaza since October 2023 has killed over 62,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.
It has also caused a hunger crisis and internally displaced Gaza's entire population.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered in October 2023 when Hamas launched a retaliation campaign against Israel.
