A third of American undergraduate students believe that the Palestinians are a better ally for the United States of America than Israel, according to a poll published on Thursday by the Buckley Institute.
The Eleventh Annual National Undergraduate Student Survey found that among a sample of 820 students under the age of 25 and from across the country, 38% weren’t sure whether Israel or the Palestinians were a better ally for the US, while 33% thought the Palestinians and 29% Israel.
Ideologically liberal students were more likely to believe the Palestinians were a superior choice of ally, with 46% choosing them over Israel and 25% preferring the Jewish state. Inversely, 43% of Conservatives believe Israel to be a better option, but only 16% said Palestinians. Moderates were split 30% to 26% in Israel’s favor.
There were differences in support demographically, with 38% to 20% of Black and 30% to 19% of Asian respondents in favor of Palestinians.
Thirty-nine percent of Hispanic respondents favored Israel, compared to the 31% in the demographic that chose Palestinians as a preferred ally. Thirty-seven percent of men thought that Israel was a better US ally, and 28% thought so of Palestinians; almost the exact opposite was true of women.
Among the majors, humanities, natural sciences, healthcare, and social sciences preferred Palestinian allies, 43% to 23%, 44% to 20%, 37% to 16%, and 37% to 27%, respectively. However, 46% to 24% of education majors and 36% to 26% of mathematics/engineering majors thought Israel was the better ally.
The questions asked by the survey conductor, Inquire LLC, between September 5 and September 14, focused on matters of free speech but touched on contemporary issues such as the ongoing Levantine conflict and campus antisemitism.
A plurality of 46% of surveyed students believed in a two-state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians could live peacefully as neighbors, though only 11% believed strongly in the possibility. Forty-four percent of respondents thought such an outcome unlikely, with 10% believing a two-state solution to be impossible.
There were no significant ideological differences, but black students were less positive about the two-state possibility than Hispanic students.
Fifty-three percent to 39% of black respondents felt that such a solution was not possible, but almost the inverse was true for Hispanic students. Forty-nine percent of Asian students believed the two-state solution was possible, while 33% did not.
Men and women again differed in their opinions on the subject, with 54% to 38% of men believing geopolitical coexistence was possible but 48% to 41% of women believing it was not.
Half of social sciences majors thought that the solution was unlikely, and 41% thought it was possible, while the inverse was the case for healthcare students. Humanities students had the most negative views on the matter, with 57% to 41% believing that a two-state solution was unlikely, while 52% to 33% of education majors thought it was likely.
In regard to antisemitism, 70% of students believed that Jew-hatred was an issue on campus, and a 47% plurality believed that the issue merited some government response.
A 30% plurality of the self-selected poll participants believed that campus antisemitism was a problem that merited federal government involvement, even if they didn’t agree with every step taken to address the issue. Seventeen percent of students similarly believed that antisemitism was an issue, and the government’s actions, such as investigations, suing, and fining, were legitimate and necessary.
Twenty-three percent of students believe that while antisemitism was an issue on campus, government intervention was not appropriate, and schools should address the matter. Another 16% said that antisemitism was not a problem on campus, and the government’s involvement was purely political.
Mixed support for free speech, poll finds
The survey also found mixed support on the issue of free speech. Record percentages of students considered the US Constitution and the First Amendment important and relevant: 73% and 90%, respectively.
Record highs of support were also recorded, with 60% of respondents acknowledging that racist or bigoted speech was protected under the First Amendment, and 75% believed it was important for their academic institution to encourage free speech rather than prevent offensive dialogue.
Yet at the same time, a record 48% to 45% believed it to be sometimes appropriate to shout down or disrupt speakers on campus. While 56% disagreed with using violence to prevent the use of hate speech, a 39% bloc of students believed otherwise.
A similar amount believed offensive speech to be harmful to their mental health and that hate speech should be met with criminal prosecution.
“It is clear that despite support for free speech in theory, America’s undergraduates don’t support it in practice,” Buckley Institute Founder and Executive Director Lauren Noble said in a press release. “America’s college students support shutdowns and violence to stop offensive speech at an alarming rate, particularly worrying in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination.”
The Yale-based institute says on its website that its objectives are to foster intellectual diversity and to bolster free speech.