WSAHINGTON (Dispatches) – Most Americans and a significant majority of Democrats oppose unrestricted military aid to the Zionist regime if it continues to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank, a new poll shows.
The study, released by the Arab American Institute (AAI) on Thursday, underscored a clear partisan divide over Israel-Palestine, with Republicans showing more support for the occupying regime’s policies across multiple questions.
Fifty-one percent of overall respondents agreed with the statement: “The United States should not provide unrestricted financial and military assistance to the Israeli regime if it continues to violate U.S. policy on settlement expansion in the West Bank.”
That support rises to 62 percent amongst Democrats and 75 percent from respondents who identify ideologically as liberal.
The opposite statement: “The United States should always provide unrestricted financial and military assistance to the Israeli regime,” polled at 28 percent overall and only had the support of a plurality, not a majority, of Republicans, with 42 percent.
The data is based on the answers of 1,011 people with a 3.1 percent margin of error. The poll, conducted on 20 May on the day a ceasefire was announced in Gaza, comes at a time when many progressive Democrats in Congress are questioning Washington’s unconditional support to the Zionist regime.
Last month, Congresswoman Betty McCollum introduced a bill that would ensure that U.S. military assistance to the Zionist regime is not used to fund abuses against Palestinians, including the imprisonment of children and home demolitions. Washington provides $3.8bn in annual aid to the regime with no strings attached.
The poll showed that 52 percent of Democratic respondents agree with the lawmakers trying to hold the $735m sale, rather than President Joe Biden who approved it. A 43-percent plurality of all respondents also support efforts to block the deal.
One question on the poll asks: “Do you agree or disagree that Israelis and Palestinians are equal people entitled to equal rights?”
Even there, a discrepancy across different ideologies appears in the responses: 87 percent of liberal respondents said yes, but the number drops to 66 percent with conservatives. A solid 73-percent majority backs the statement overall.
The AAI study highlights an ongoing shift in public opinion towards the Zionist regime amongst Democrats. A Gallup poll in March showed that a majority of Democrats favor applying more U.S. pressure on the Zionist regime to resolve the conflict.