More Americans want US to encourage Israel to cease military operation in Gaza: Poll

A new CBS News/YouGov poll found that 37 percent of surveyed Americans want Biden to encourage Israel to stop its military actions in Gaza — slightly up from the 31 percent who said the same in February. Another 23 percent said in the new poll that Biden should encourage Israel to decrease its military actions in Gaza.

Biden has amped up his criticism of Netanyahu in recent weeks as Israel continues its war against the Gaza Strip. Biden stated last week that Netanyahu’s approach to the war “is a mistake”.

The poll found that just 12 percent of those surveyed said Biden should urge Israel to increase its military actions in Gaza. Another 28 percent said that Biden should tell Israel to keep its military actions the same, which is down from the 32 percent who said so in February.

Overall, 33 percent of respondents said they approved of Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, which is the lowest percentage CBS News polling has recorded since the onset of the war. That figure is down from the 38 percent who approved of Biden’s handling in February and from the 44 percent who approved in October.

The poll, conducted before Iran’s drone and missile attack on Israel, also found that most surveyed Americans did not want the US to take military action against Iran if it attacked Israel.

Twenty-five percent of those surveyed said the US should take military action, 42 percent said the US should support Israel’s actions but not get involved militarily and 32 percent said the US should not get involved at all.