Poll: Most Americans believe Israel’s response in Gaza is excessive, countries should recognize Palestinian state

A 58% majority of Americans believe that every country in the United Nations should recognize Palestine as a nation, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Some 33% of respondents did not agree that UN members should recognize a Palestinian state and 9% did not answer.

The six-day poll, which closed on Monday, was taken within weeks of three countries, close US allies Canada, Britain and France, announcing they intend to recognize the State of Palestine.

The survey was taken amid hopes that Israel and Hamas would agree on a ceasefire and hostage deal to end the war in Gaza that started after the Hamas attack on southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 hostages taken to Gaza.

Britain, Canada, Australia and several of their European allies said last week that the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn Palestinian enclave has reached “unimaginable levels,” as aid groups warned that Gazans are on the verge of famine.

A larger majority of the Reuters/Ipsos poll respondents, 65%, said the US should take action in Gaza to help people facing starvation, with 28% disagreeing. The number disagreeing included 41% of US President Donald Trump’s Republicans.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll also showed that 59% of Americans believe that Israel’s military response in Gaza has been excessive. Thirty-three percent of respondents disagreed.

In a similar Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in February 2024, 53% of respondents agreed that Israel’s response had been excessive, and 42% disagreed.

The latest Reuters/Ipsos survey, conducted online, gathered responses from 4,446 U.S. adults nationwide and had a margin of error of about 2 percentage points.