The poll was carried out for the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project, as well as Gen-Z for Change, and conducted by YouGov among 1,221 likely Democratic voters.
Eighty percent of all respondents said the US should reduce its support for Israel, and 72 percent agreed that Israel is carrying out a genocide in Gaza. Sixty-five percent of respondents said they want some form of sanctions to be imposed as a result.
All those figures increased among respondents aged 18-29, at times by 10 percentage points or more.
Pollsters then blindly split that 1,221 figure roughly in half, and posed more specific questions about sanctions. One group was asked the questions with the context that similar policies had been enacted against Apartheid South Africa, and the other was asked the questions directly, with no implication.
Perhaps surprisingly, those who responded to the questions without historical context showed higher rates of support for punitive measures against Israel.
When asked if there should be a ban on extending credit to the Israeli government, including the purchase of Israel bonds by local, state and federal governments, 76 percent said yes. A similar number said there should also be import restrictions on Israeli-made weapons and cybersecurity software.
Sixty-two percent of respondents in the no-context category also agreed the US should prohibit the entrance to the US of Israeli government officials and soldiers, and end all cooperation and intelligence sharing between the US and Israeli militaries.
Asked if the US should send weapons to Israel via taxpayer funds, one randomised half of respondents said no at 71 percent.
The other group was asked the same question, with the caveat that Israel would fully pay for its weapons purchases. This half also said no, at 63 percent.
At least 55 percent of all 1,221 respondents to the poll indicated they would only support a congressional candidate who voted against sending taxpayer-funded weapons to Israel. In the 18-29-year-old category, there was a significant jump of close to 10 percentage points.
The poll was carried out between 11-24 September and has a margin of error of three percent, give or take.
“What was once dismissed as radical is now mainstream: Democratic voters believe their tax dollars should not fund apartheid. This moment did not arrive suddenly. It was built on decades of resistance and unyielding demands for dignity,” Cheyenne Hunt, executive director of Gen-Z for Change, said in a statement.
“The question before Democratic leadership is: will they finally listen, or will they continue to deny this reality and suffer the consequences of ignoring the overwhelming mandate of their voters? Oppression is not an anomaly—it is a consequence of policy”.
Margaret DeReus, the executive director of the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project, warned that “Democratic Party leadership must finally recognize this undeniable reality and listen to their voter base, or they risk repeating their disastrous loss in 2024”.
