Most Americans disapprove of Biden's handling of Israel-Hamas war — CBS News poll

President Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war continues to be met with majority disapproval as relatively few Americans think his administration's actions are bringing things closer to a peaceful resolution, and a rising number of Democrats feel he's showing too much support for Israel. 

As for Mr. Biden's approach toward any pro-Palestinian protests that take place in the U.S., most would favor no comment, and then there are relatively more who'd like him to condemn those than support them. Republicans, in particular, are the ones most looking for condemnation.

(That said, it isn't impacting Mr. Biden's overall approval rating, which is generally holding steady and is at 41%, in part because Americans don't rank the war among the U.S.' top problems.)

The president's approach toward Israel elicits increasing differences within his own Democratic party. Now, more than a third of Democrats think he's showing too much support for Israel, which is up from October.

Back home, regarding pro-Palestinian protests taking place, most would prefer Biden take no position on these in the U.S., or else condemn them —more than support them. Republicans are relatively more inclined to want him to condemn them; a quarter of Democrats would look for support.

The differentiator is that it's generally older Americans — it's Gen X and Boomers, people over 45 — who tend to want comparably more condemnation. It's not strongly associated with just whether or not someone is college-age. 

Mr. Biden's overall approval rating for handling of the conflict has declined slightly since October among all partisans and age groups, not any one in particular.

But for context, as Americans assess the U.S.' top problems, the Israel-Hamas war is not among them. It's low single-digits far below inflation, and below the state of democracy, the border, and gun violence when people are asked to pick.

---

This CBS News/YouGov survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 2,144 U.S. adult residents interviewed between December 6-8, 2023. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the U.S. Census American Community Survey and Current Population Survey, as well as past vote. The margin of error is ±2.8 points.

Toplines:

In:
• Hamas
• Israel
• Joe Biden

Anthony Salvanto

Anthony Salvanto, Ph.D., is CBS News' director of elections and surveys. He oversees all polling across the nation, states and congressional races, and heads the CBS News Decision Desk that estimates outcomes on election nights. He is the author of "Where Did You Get This Number: A Pollster's Guide to Making Sense of the World," from Simon & Schuster (a division of Paramount Global), and appears regularly across all CBS News platforms. His scholarly research and writings cover topics on polling methodology, voting behavior, and sampling techniques.

Twitter