More than two thirds of young Americans believe “Jews as a class are oppressors and should be treated as oppressors”, a new poll suggests.
In a survey conducted by Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll, a monthly online poll of 2,000 registered voters in the US, 67 per cent of 18-24 year-olds said they agreed with the statement that “Jews are oppressors and should be treated as such”.
This was in contrast with 91 per cent of voters over the age of 65 who said the statement amounted to a false ideology.
The survey results revealed an overwhelming support for Israel across all age groups, with 81 per cent of all respondents supporting the Jewish state over Hamas. However within the 18–24 bracket, answers to that question was evenly split between Israel and Hamas.
While 69 per cent of 18–24-year-old respondents affirmed the belief that Israel has the right to exist as the homeland of the Jewish people, over half believed the long-term solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute was for “Israel to be ended and given to Hamas and the Palestinians” instead of a two-state solution or the absorption of Palestinians into Arab states.
At the same time, over half of those in the 18-24 demographic said they thought Hamas was primarily responsible for putting civilians in harm’s way and 58 per cent believed Hamas should be removed from running Gaza.
The survey found that 73 per cent of all respondents believe the Hamas attacks on October 7 were genocidal in nature, and 73 per cent believe the attacks were not justified by Palestinian grievance. However, in the 18-24 bracket, 60 per cent of respondents affirmed that the attacks could be justified by the grievances of Palestinians.
Similarly, 60 per cent of those between 18-24 believed that Israel is was committing a genocide against the people of Gaza, at odds with the 63 per cent of all respondents who think Israel is trying to defend itself and eliminate Hamas.
Most survey respondents believed a ceasefire should happen only after the release of all hostages and Hamas’ removal from power in Gaza, but young Americans appeared to favour an unconditional ceasefire that would leave things as they are.
In regard to questions of antisemitism in the US, 75 per cent of respondents believed antisemitism was growing, and 65 per cent believe discrimination against Muslims is growing.
The youngest demographic of respondents demonstrated conflicting views on the recent clashes over antisemitism and free speech on US college campuses; 76 per cent of all respondents believe that Jewish students are facing harassment on college campuses, and 70 per cent of 18-24-year-olds said that calls for the genocide of Jews during protests on campus constituted hate speech.
Contradictorily, over half of those in this bracket appear to condone hate speech in universities, affirming the statement that a student who calls for the genocide of Jews during protests on campus should be free to do so without punishment.
Most respondents had at least heard about the congressional hearing on college antisemitism early this month, when university presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania were unable to affirm that calls for the genocide of Jews on college campuses violated universities’ codes of conduct because “it depends on the context” or “whether the speech turns into conduct”. The episode prompted swift backlash from alumni, donors, and Republican opponents, who decried the culture of elite college institutions as excessively liberal.
The majority of survey respondents believe the university presidents did not go far enough to condemn antisemitism, but the youngest demographic stood out again as 67 per cent said the university presidents went far enough. Even so, roughly 3 out of 4 respondents believed that the university presidents who said that calls for the genocide of Jews on their campuses are not necessarily a violation of their school’s code of conduct and harassment policies should resign.
The survey, which included 2,034 participants, reflects a nationally representative sample.
