December 7, 2023
Democrats are slightly more positive about how President Biden is handling the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians than they were in November. A majority (59%) approve, up from 50% in the AP-NORC Center survey conducted in November. In August, ahead of the attack on Israel by Hamas, 57% of Democrats supported Biden’s handling of the situation.
Older Democrats are far more likely to approve of Biden’s handling of the conflict than younger Democrats. Eighty-two percent of Democrats over 65 approve of his actions, compared to just 31% of Democrats ages 18-29.
Overall about 6 in 10 adults disapprove of how the president is handling the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
Most adults think it is extremely or very important for the United States to assist in recovering hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. About half say negotiating a permanent ceasefire and providing humanitarian relief to Palestinians in Gaza should be a top priority. Thirty-four percent say providing aid to Israel to fight Hamas is extremely or very important.
Democrats and Republicans agree on the importance of getting the hostages returned. But there are partisan differences regarding other U.S. goals in the conflict. Democrats are more likely than Republicans to consider negotiating a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas as an important foreign policy goal. Democrats are also more likely than Republicans to say supplying humanitarian relief to Palestinians in Gaza is important. But Republicans are more inclined than Democrats to say the United States should provide military aid to Israel.
Republicans are also more likely than Democrats to think that the United States has not given enough support to Israel and is too supportive of the Palestinians. Forty-two percent of Republicans say the United States has not given enough support to Israel and 48% say the United States has given too much support to Palestinians.
Democrats who disapprove of Biden’s handling of the conflict are more likely to think the United States is giving too much support to Israel, and not enough to the Palestinians.
Forty-one percent of adults approve of Biden’s job performance overall and 59% disapprove. Twenty-five percent say the country is headed in the right direction, an increase in optimism since November when only 18% said the country was moving in the right direction. But still most adults (75%) think the country is heading in the wrong direction.
The nationwide poll was conducted November 30-December 4, 2023 using the AmeriSpeak® Panel, the probability-based panel of NORC at the University of Chicago. Online and telephone interviews using landlines and cell phones were conducted with 1,074 adults. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.0 percentage points.
- Suggested Citation: AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (December 2023). “Hostage recovery tops public’s priorities for Israel-Hamas conflict” https://apnorc.org/projects/hostage-recovery-tops-publics-priorities-for-israel-hamas-conflict/
