Half of Registered U.S. Voters Say Israel Committing Genocide in Gaza, Poll Finds
Half of registered American voters say Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll published on Wednesday. The finding marks the highest numbers yet recorded in the United States on a question that has moved from the margins of political debate into mainstream conversation.
The survey, conducted between August 21–25 among 1,220 registered U.S. voters, found that 50 percent believe Israel is committing genocide based on what they know about the war in Gaza, while 35 percent do not and 15 percent were undecided.
The results also reveal a sharp partisan divide: 77 percent of Democrats and 51 percent of independents said Israel is committing genocide, while 64 percent of Republicans rejected the charge.
The Quinnipiac poll also found 60 percent of voters oppose sending additional U.S. military aid to Israel, the highest level of opposition and lowest level of support since Hamas' October 7 attacks triggered the war. Only 32 percent favored more aid. Three-quarters of Democrats and two-thirds of independents opposed new spending, while a majority of Republicans supported it.
On the question of sympathy in the conflict, voters were nearly evenly split, though mostly along party lines, with Republican sympathy lying with Israelis, and Democrats with Palestinians. Thirty-seven percent said they sympathized more with Palestinians and 36 percent with Israelis, figures that represent the highest mark for Palestinians and the lowest for Israelis in Quinnipiac polling since the question was first asked in 2001.
"Support for the Palestinians grows while the appetite for funding Israel militarily dips sharply. And a harsh assessment of the way Israel is prosecuting the Gaza campaign invokes a word of infamy," said Quinnipiac polling analyst Tim Malloy in releasing the results.
Quinnipiac's record-high numbers come as other national surveys show a similar shift upward in recent weeks. The University of Maryland's Critical Issues Poll, conducted by Professor Shibley Telham and fielded July 29–August 7 of American adults, reported that 41 percent of respondents described Israel's actions as genocide or "akin to genocide," up sharply from 23 percent a year earlier.
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Two national surveys conducted almost simultaneously at the start of August showed similar results: a YouGov/Economist poll conducted August 1–4 found 42 percent labeling Israel's actions as genocide, while a Data for Progress survey conducted August 1–3 put the figure even higher, at 47 percent. The Quinnipiac poll recorded the highest level yet, with 50 percent of voters now saying Israel is committing genocide.
The phrasing of this question varied slightly across the polls, which may account for some degree of difference in the results. Still, the overall direction is clear: more Americans are embracing language once confined to human rights reports and international legal briefs.
Looking across the four polls, two patterns stand out: Democrats and younger voters are far more likely than Republicans and older voters to describe Israel's actions as genocide. In the University of Maryland poll, for instance, two-thirds of Democrats agreed with the genocide framing, compared to only 14 percent of Republicans. Among voters under 35, nearly half used the word, while just 10 percent in that age group said Israel's actions are justified and not genocide.
Activists protest President Donald Trump's federal takeover of policing of the District of Columbia near the White House, Saturday, early August, in Washington.Credit: Alex Brandon/AP
Since the early days of Israel's military campaign in Gaza, which began directly after Hamas' October 7 attack, a debate has raged over how to label Israel's actions, with the term "genocide" carrying weight both morally and legally.
In December of 2023, South Africa formally accused Israel of genocide in a high-profile case at the International Court of Justice, which ordered Israel to take measures to prevent genocidal acts but stopped short of a final ruling. UN special rapporteurs as well as several international human rights organizations have also used the term, while Israel's government and the country's supporters fiercely reject the allegation as baseless and politically motivated.
But recently, prominent voices inside Israel have begun to break the taboo. Celebrated novelist David Grossman recently said he can no longer hold back from using the word. And in July, for the first time, Israeli human rights groups B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights issued reports declaring that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and calling for international intervention.