Poll shows split over US involvement in Middle East

Americans are divided about how much the United States should involve itself in resolving the Israel-Hamas war, a new survey found.

The survey, conducted by Gallup, found that roughly four in ten U.S. adults say the nation's leaders are doing the “right amount” to resolve the conflict.

By comparison, 39 percent say the U.S. is doing not enough, while 19 percent think the country is doing too much.

The differences in opinions are fairly similar across party ideology, too, according to the poll.

Forty percent of Democrats and 40 percent of Republicans each say the U.S. is not doing enough to resolve the fighting in the Middle East. Thirty-eight percent of independent voters agree.

The survey found that Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say the country is doing the right amount to address the conflict. Forty-eight percent of Democrats say it’s the right amount compared to 33 percent of Republicans and 40 percent of independents.

Meanwhile, Republicans were more likely to say that the U.S. is doing too much. Twenty-six percent of Republicans said the country is doing too much to resolve the conflict, compared to 11 percent of Democrats and 21 percent of independents.

The survey also found that Americans are also deeply divided over U.S. support for Israel and Palestinians.

Among U.S. adults, 38 percent say the country is doing the right amount to help Israel, while 36 percent say it is doing too much and 24 percent say the U.S. is doing too little.

Meanwhile, 33 percent of Americans surveyed say the country is doing too little to support Palestinians in the conflict, compared to 33 percent that say the U.S. is doing the right amount and 31 percent say the country is doing too much.

The survey was conducted Dec. 1-20, 2023, about two months after Hamas militants entered Israel in a surprise attack that killed 1,200 Israelis and prompted a deadly counter attack from Israel that has killed more than 22,000 Palestinians. The poll of 1,013 respondents has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.