American public opinion on the Israel-Gaza conflict has shifted rapidly and dramatically over the past year, according to new polling data released by Quinnipiac this week. As the war in Gaza grinds on with no end in sight, a growing majority of U.S. voters now oppose sending more military assistance to Israel—a remarkable reversal from attitudes held just months earlier. The new numbers also reveal a deepening rift between the views of ordinary Americans and the policies pursued by political leaders in Washington.
The Quinnipiac survey, conducted between August 21 and 25, 2025, and released on August 28, found that 60 percent of U.S. voters now say they oppose sending more military aid to Israel to support its operations in Gaza. That’s the highest level of opposition since Quinnipiac began asking the question in November 2023, when only 39 percent were against additional aid. Just 32 percent of Americans now support sending more assistance, a sharp decline from previous surveys. The poll sampled 1,220 registered voters and carries a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.
“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 Tim Malloy, a Quinnipiac analyst, in a statement summarizing the results, as reported by JTA.
These numbers are even more striking among Democrats. Only 18 percent of Democratic voters support additional military aid to Israel, while 75 percent are opposed. This marks a dramatic realignment within the party: a full 77 percent of Democrats now say they believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, according to the poll. Among all voters, half said Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide, 35 percent said they do not, and 15 percent said they were unsure. The bulk of those rejecting the genocide label were Republicans, reflecting the deep partisan divide on the issue.
The poll’s findings come at a time when the gap between public sentiment and official U.S. policy appears wider than ever. On August 26, just days before the poll’s release, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) rejected a resolution that would have called for an arms embargo on Israel. Instead, the DNC passed a competing resolution urging a ceasefire in Gaza and the “unconditional” release of all Israeli captives, but notably stopped short of including any language that would pressure Israel to agree to a ceasefire deal or halt military assistance. This move frustrated many grassroots Democrats and progressive lawmakers, who have become increasingly vocal in their calls to end U.S. support for Israel’s military campaign.
Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan), the only Palestinian-American in Congress, responded to the poll and the DNC’s actions with a scathing rebuke. “The DNC voted down a resolution this week in support of an arms embargo. Enabling genocide is alienating the majority of Democrats who want the funding of war crimes to stop. Wake the fuck up!” she wrote on social media Wednesday, as reported by Truthout.
Beyond the question of military aid, the Quinnipiac poll also asked Americans where their sympathies lie in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For the first time since Quinnipiac began surveying on the issue in 2001, more voters said they sympathize with Palestinians (37 percent) than with Israelis (36 percent)—a statistical dead heat, but a historic high for Palestinian support. Among Democrats, the shift is even more pronounced: 63 percent say they sympathize more with Palestinians, compared to just 13 percent who favor Israelis.
The poll’s findings reflect a larger trend that has been building over the past year. In November 2023, only 39 percent of Americans opposed sending more aid to Israel, according to Quinnipiac. That number rose to 46 percent in December, and has continued to climb as the war in Gaza has dragged on and images of devastation have circulated globally. The Economist conducted a separate poll earlier in August 2025 and found that 40 percent of Americans believed Israel’s actions in Gaza constituted genocide, with the remainder evenly split between those who disagreed and those who were unsure.
Israel has repeatedly rejected the accusation of genocide. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have argued that if Israel intended a campaign of mass extermination in Gaza, the results would look very different. However, an increasing number of public figures—including Holocaust and genocide scholars—have stated that the term “genocide” is appropriate to describe Israel’s campaign, citing widespread destruction, severe limitations on humanitarian aid, and inflammatory rhetoric from Israeli government officials. At least one major Holocaust historian, however, has argued that the term does not apply, underscoring the complexity and contentiousness of the debate.
According to Truthout, many analysts suggest that the growing perception of genocide among Americans may be driving the surge in opposition to military aid. The polling data also highlights an unprecedented level of sympathy for Palestinians, particularly among younger voters and Democrats, who have historically been more supportive of Israel. These shifts are putting pressure on political leaders—particularly within the Democratic Party—to reassess their approach to the conflict.
Congress has not been immune to these changes. In recent weeks, several prominent Democrats in Congress, including Adam Smith, a leading moderate on the House Armed Services Committee, have publicly come out against further arms shipments to Israel. This marks a significant departure from the bipartisan consensus that has long characterized U.S. support for Israel. Yet, as the DNC’s recent vote demonstrates, party leadership remains cautious about taking steps that would fundamentally alter the U.S.-Israel relationship.
The polling also underscores the risks facing politicians who ignore the changing mood of the electorate. As Rep. Tlaib warned, “Democrats will continue to lose” if they persist in rejecting actions that align with the majority of their base. The divide between party elites and grassroots activists is becoming increasingly difficult to bridge, especially as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza shows no signs of abating.
Ultimately, the latest Quinnipiac poll serves as a stark indicator of how profoundly American attitudes toward the Israel-Gaza conflict have shifted in less than a year. With public opinion now at odds with official U.S. policy, and with sympathy for Palestinians at a record high, the political landscape surrounding America’s role in the Middle East may be on the verge of a fundamental transformation. As the war continues and the debate over genocide intensifies, the question remains: will policymakers in Washington heed the voices of their constituents, or will the gap between leaders and the public continue to widen?