Americans’ Views on Israel‑Hamas War After Two Years
Two years into the Israel‑Hamas war, multiple surveys show U.S. opinion has shifted: Gallup found sympathy for Israelis fell below 50% in 2025 — an all‑time low in its tracking, driven largely by Democrats and independents — and AP‑NORC reports about half of Americans now say Israel’s military response in Gaza has “gone too far,” up from 40% soon after Oct. 7, 2023. An AJC poll found roughly 7 in 10 Jewish Americans feel less secure in the U.S. with the war cited as the top reason, and Pew Research’s two‑year analysis similarly documents a complex, divided public outlook.
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📌 Key Facts
- Gallup tracking (2025): American sympathy for Israelis fell below 50% — an all-time low in roughly 25 years of Gallup tracking; the decline was driven largely by Democrats and independents.
- AP‑NORC: About 50% of Americans now say Israel’s military response in Gaza has 'gone too far', up from 40% shortly after Oct. 7, 2023.
- AJC survey (Oct–Nov 2024): About 7 in 10 Jewish Americans said they felt less secure as Jews in the U.S. compared with a year earlier, and they named the Israel‑Hamas war as the top reason for that feeling.
- Taken together, surveys show a notable shift in U.S. public opinion two years after Oct. 7, 2023 — declining sympathy for Israel alongside growing public concern that Israel’s Gaza campaign has been excessive.
- Those opinion shifts coincide with heightened concerns about antisemitism and a decreased sense of security among many Jewish Americans, per the AJC findings.
📚 Contextual Background
- Israel enforces a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.
- A 2025 U.S. peace plan linked a hostage release to a reciprocal exchange involving Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
- U.S. officials in 2025 described a two-phase approach to ceasefire negotiations in which an initial hostage release would be followed by an Israeli military pullback to a previously held boundary position, while decisions about Gaza's future governing structure could be negotiated concurrently.
📰 Sources (2)
How American views on Israel and antisemitism have changed since Oct. 7
New information:
- Gallup tracking: American sympathy for Israelis fell below 50% in 2025 — an all‑time low in roughly 25 years of Gallup tracking (driven by Democrats and independents).
- AJC (Oct–Nov 2024) survey: About 7 in 10 Jewish Americans said they felt less secure as Jews in the U.S. compared with a year earlier, with the Israel‑Hamas war named the top reason.
- AP‑NORC figure: ~50% of Americans now say Israel’s military response in Gaza has 'gone too far', up from 40% shortly after Oct. 7, 2023.