Do Voters Align With Trump On The Ongoing Israel-Hamas Conflict?: Top Pollster Weighs In

On "Forbes Newsroom", HarrisX Founder and CEO Dritan Nesho spoke about the split between voters on the Israel-Hamas War.

Transcript

00:00And what do voters think about the war in the Middle East? Do they think that there needs to

00:04be a roadmap from the administration there? Because that has been raging on now for close

00:09to two years, the war between Israel and Hamas. And Israel recently has faced international

00:14criticism after the IPC, which is a partner of the UN, officially declared some areas of Gaza

00:20were experiencing famine. And President Trump earlier this week, he said he believes there

00:25will be a conclusive ending to the war within the next two to three weeks. Do voters agree

00:30with him? Do they see that the end of this conflict is coming up shortly?

00:36No, I mean, the short answer is no. Majority did not view a quick end to the conflict.

00:42When we look at Israel and the Middle East, public opinion is both remarkably consistent,

00:48and I'll explain that in just a second, and has started to shift pretty quickly,

00:54especially given the news of the famine that you just mentioned. So 75% support Israel over Hamas

01:03in the conflict. 78% believe that Hamas must immediately release all the hostages without

01:12any conditions. Otherwise, it should keep facing serious consequences. And frankly, a majority

01:22of 58% still say that there should only be a deal with Hamas if it agrees to disband, lay down arms and

01:30give the hostages up. In this regard, the Trump administration, this has been their line. And

01:39that's why when we asked the question, do you support or oppose Trump's handling of the Israeli-Hamas

01:44conflict? So far, 53%, almost consistently, a small majority, say yes. Where the picture

01:52starts to shift is in the fact that 69% today believe there is famine in Gaza. And while 61%, a majority,

02:05hold Hamas responsible over Israel for the famine, they believe that something has to be done for this.

02:24And frankly, voters now are very split on hard questions like, do you believe that criticism of

02:32Israel's conduct in the Israel-Hamas conflict is motivated more by anti-Semitism or more by concern

02:40for Palestinian human rights? Now, 49% say more by anti-Semitism, 51% by concern for Palestinian human

02:47rights. So they're split on a hard question like that. And we went even a step further and we asked,

02:53do you believe or not believe that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza? And again, voters are

02:58split 50-50 on that. So while they still blame Hamas and while they still support Israel and support the

03:07United States supporting Israel by sending weaponry and technical intelligence, there's no doubt that

03:15Israel is held to a higher bar as a functioning democracy and with proper structures of governance and

03:25power and military. And voters really are split on its conduct. And we even asked that question,

03:31do you approve or disapprove of Israel's conduct in the conflict? And they're split 49-51% now.

03:38This is a change. This is a shift that we've seen as concerns about the famine start increasing

03:46and images of the famine start becoming more commonplace within the media and social media and beyond.

03:53And this is a change.

03:55But now in the media, let's see if you have any issues they're affecting the famine,

03:59and people will be able to devote to the famine and to spend a few minutes with the famine in the