Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new opinion poll conducted by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, a Muslim-American think tank based in Michigan, finds that half of Jewish Democrats and a majority of Muslim Democrats agree on the need for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
Some 78% of Muslim Democrats favored an immediate ceasefire, the same proportion as Democrats in the general public. 57% of Jewish Democrats wanted an immediate ceasefire, while 30% opposed it. Still, that means that a majority of the two religious groups who lean Democratic agree on this principle. Even 54% of Republicans in the general public wanted a ceasefire.
Young Jews and young Muslims are closer to one another than are older Jews and older Muslims. Among Jews 18-29, 54% favor a ceasefire (among Jews over 50 it is only 46%). Among Muslims 18-29, 68% favor a ceasefire (among Muslims over 50 it is 80%). There is only a 14 point spread between young Jewish Americans and young Muslim Americans, whereas there is a 34 point spread among Jewish Americans over 50 and Muslim Americans over 50.
It is interesting to me that almost the same proportion of Catholics (71%) wanted a ceasefire as Muslims (75%). Among Protestants the proportion is 60% and among white evangelicals it is 58%. The latter statistic is also remarkable since white evangelicals are strongly biased in favor of Israel; but even so they want a ceasefire in the horrific Gaza conflict.
ISPU also asked for views on who is responsible for the war. Among Muslims, 47% blame Hamas and Israel equally for the violence or blame Hamas alone. 40% blame Israel. That is the highest percentage who blamed Israel alone among all American religious groups. But still, more blamed Israel-and-Hamas or blamed Hamas alone (12%).
Protestants and non-affiliated had similar proportions who blamed Israel-and-Hamas equally (34% and 38% respectively).
Some 47% of Catholics blamed Hamas alone, while 51% of Evangelicals put the entire onus on Hamas. Among Jews, 65% blamed Hamas alone.
But note that 10% of Jews blamed Israel alone and 19% blamed Israel-and-Hamas equally, so over a quarter of them generally agreed with Muslims in their point of view on the conflict.
It is heartening to see so much unity on the issue of an immediate ceasefire across party lines and across religious affiliations.
ISPU commissioned Qualtrics to “field the survey to a non-probability online sample of self-identified American Muslims, American Jews, and members of the American general public.” 1,296 surveys were completed from Dec. 22 through January 15 of this year. Muslims filled out 330, jews 316, and the general population 550.
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