The three-month war between Israel and Hamas has sharply divided Californians, with sharp divisions between older and younger voters in the state, a new statewide poll finds.

Voters under 30 are far more likely to sympathize with Palestinians than Israelis, while voters over 65 support the Israeli side, according to a new poll. University of California, Berkeley Institute of Governmentco-sponsored with the Los Angeles Times.

Voters under 30 say by 55% to 18% that Israel should agree to a ceasefire, even if it means Hamas remains in the Gaza Strip.

Among voters over 65, opinion is almost the opposite: 52% to 32% think Israel should continue fighting until Hamas can no longer survive. According to the poll, 27% of the youngest voters and 16% of voters over 65 had no opinion.

The survey revealed similarly sharp divisions along ideological lines, with the state's most liberal voters overwhelmingly saying Israel is using too much military force in the war. Conservative voters, on the other hand, say the use of force is about right or too little.

Jen Julian, a 26-year-old progressive voter in Los Angeles, is among those who feel the war was too expensive. Gaza health authorities put the Palestinian death toll at more than 23,000, but “the human toll is too high,” she said in an interview.

Israel launched airstrikes and a ground invasion of Gaza after Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing at least 1,200 people and taking more than 240 hostages.

“I understand that Israel was attacked and felt the need to respond, but this has gone on for far too long,” she said.

Joey Johnson, 68, a conservative from Reading, took a different view.

“This is like 9/11 in Israel,” Johnson said. “If America was attacked by terrorists like Israel was, we would also want to do everything in our power to prevent it from happening again. But of course, innocent people are dying in Gaza. It’s a tragedy.”

Two-state solutions still dominate

Despite sharply divided opinions about the current war, this poll shows greater agreement among California voters about the future of the conflict.

For all but the most conservative voters, an independent state of Israel and Palestine remains the most preferred option.

This so-called two-state solution has been official US policy for decades and at various points in the past, and is at least nominally targeted by the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority, which limits its governing authority in the West Bank. has been accepted as.

However, an independent Palestinian state is opposed by right-wing Israelis who have strong influence in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's current government. Meanwhile, Hamas and other Palestinian extremist groups reject Israel's continued existence.

A majority of California voters support the two state proposals. 47% prefer two states, while 25% have no opinion and the remainder are split between other options.

Rabbi Jonathan Klein wants two states.

Klein, 55, a leader at Temple Beth El in Bakersfield and a self-described “lifelong liberal Zionist,” said he has been closely monitoring news from Israel and Gaza.

“My community almost fully supports Israel's efforts to combat what it sees as an existential threat,” Klein said.

“However, I recognize that just because Jews have historical ties to this region does not mean that other peoples do not. Do you think coexistence is possible? ? I hope so, but I don't know at this point.”

Opinion polls found significantly lower support for an option favored by some on the left: a unified binational state. One in eight voters said they wanted a single state that was neither Jewish nor Palestinian. Support for it comes primarily from the left, with just under one in five liberals in the state supporting it.

There is little support for Hamas' goal of becoming an Arab state that controls all the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. The idea has been supported by demonstrators at several recent protests, but only 3% of state voters support it. Support rose to 7% among those under 30 and 8% among those who identify as liberal.

“Israel is an illegal state,” said Reza Nekmanesh, 47, an Iranian American living in Fresno. “I don't think that means that certain groups of people don't have the right to live and exist there in peace, equity and justice,” Nekmanesh said. “But I believe that no nation should be founded around ethnic or religious identity.”

At the ideological other end of the spectrum, 11% of voters in the state support the Israeli right's goal of a single state of Israel controlling all territory.

However, Prime Minister Netanyahu and his allies enjoy strong support within the Republican Party, with 31% of Republican voters in the state supporting Israeli control of the entire region and 43% of voters who identify as conservative. is rising.

divided sympathy

The poll found that 30% of California voters said they sympathized more with Israelis than Palestinians in the current conflict, and a similar proportion, 28%, sympathized equally with both sides.

Mordecai Miller, 74, of Redwood City, said he felt the pain on both sides, but felt closer to the plight of Israelis after Oct. 7.

“None of this war would have happened if Hamas hadn't deliberately attacked Israel and wanted to annihilate Israel,” Miller said. “Israel is forced to retaliate.”

A slightly smaller proportion, 24%, say they have more sympathy for Palestinians.

Among them is Rami Sultan, a Palestinian-American living in Santa Clara who has family in Gaza.

The 41-year-old tech worker said he was furious at what he called a “genocide.”

“This is not a war against Hamas at all. This is clearly a war against the Palestinian people,” Sultan said.

Empathy varies widely by age and ideology.

For example, while 44% of voters under 30 say they sympathize more with Palestinians, just 14% say they sympathize more with Israelis, and a similar number (21%) say they sympathize more with Israelis.

Among people over 65, 46% identify with Israelis, 13% identify with Palestinians, and 32% are equally sympathetic to both.

Biden was caught in the middle.

Divided opinions over the war have left President Biden vulnerable to criticism from both the left and the right.

Overall, 55% of state voters disapprove of Biden's response, while 33% approve.

However, 64% of voters who identify as very liberal disapprove of Biden's response to the conflict, as do 67% of voters who identify as very conservative. be.

A clear age divide is a big factor, with 69% of voters under 30 and 65% of 30-39 year olds disapproving of the way Biden is handling conflict.

Melissa Brown, a 40-year-old conservative voter from San Diego, said Biden was “very tough on Israel at first, and he should have been.”

“He is still strong, but you can see him bowing to pressure from the left and sending a message that Israel needs to lessen its defense,” she says. “I disagree.”

Concerns about anti-Semitism and Islamophobia

Despite disagreements over the war and the underlying Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a majority of California voters across party lines express concern about the rise in anti-Semitic and anti-Arab violence and hate incidents. are sharing.

When asked about anti-Semitic incidents, 80% of California voters said they were concerned, while 12% said they were not concerned. Similarly, 75% said they were concerned about anti-Arab or anti-Muslim incidents, compared to 17% who said they were not concerned.

While the poll found little division along ideological or party lines when it came to concerns about anti-Semitism, it did find significant partisan differences when it came to anti-Muslim incidents.

Among Democrats, about the same share expressed concern about anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim hatred. Among Republicans, 81% said they were concerned about anti-Semitism, while 13% were not concerned. However, 60% were concerned about anti-Muslim hatred, compared to 31% who were not.

of Berkeley IGS PoleI surveyed 8,199 registered voters in California. It was held online from January 4th to 8th in English and Spanish.

Results are weighted to match census and voter registration benchmarks, so estimates of the margin of error may be inaccurate. However, the results have an estimated error of his 1.5 percentage points in either direction..