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military aid
Clear Majority of US Voters, Including 3 in 4 Democrats, Want to End Weapons Support to Israel: Poll
"Democratic politicians who continue to support sending weapons to Israel are acting in direct defiance of their own constituents' wishes," said one progressive commentator.
Aug 28, 2025
As its genocidal actions in Gaza become more brazen by the day, support for Israel among Americans has reached a record low.
According to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday, 60% of voters across all parties now say they oppose the United States sending more military aid to Israel, while just 32% say they support it. The pollster said it was the greatest amount of opposition it has recorded for the US-Israel alliance since it first asked the question in November 2023.
Opposition is even stronger among Democratic voters: 75% of them now oppose sending military aid to Israel, compared with just 18% who still support it.
Also for the first time ever in a Quinnipiac poll, more voters, 37%, said they sympathized with the Palestinians—an all-time high—compared with just 36% who said they sympathized with the Israelis—an all-time low.
In recent months, Israeli politicians have begun moving forward with a plan to fully occupy the Gaza Strip and permanently empty it of its inhabitants, which international humanitarian organizations have described as an "ethnic cleansing."
On Wednesday, every member of the United Nations Security Council, with the exception of the United States, joined in a statement backing the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification's declaration that Israel was creating a "man-made" famine in Gaza.
Meanwhile, even Israel's leaders have found it impossible to defend its "double-tap" strike on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Monday, in which the Israel Defense Forces launched a strike on the medical facility before launching another attack shortly afterward on the journalists and medical personnel who came to respond to the destruction.
That attack killed at least 20 people, adding to the potentially well over 100,000 Palestinians who experts estimate have been killed over the course of the nearly two-year military onslaught.
According to the Quinnipiac poll, 50% of Americans now agree with the international community's assessment that Israel is perpetrating a genocide in Gaza. This includes 77% of Democrats and 51% of independents.
When Democrats were polled last month by Gallup, just 8% of them said they supported Israel's military actions in the Gaza Strip, a dramatic decline from October 2023, when 36% expressed support.
In recent weeks, as the images of death and starvation coming out of Gaza have grown increasingly heinous and ubiquitous, some Democratic politicians have begun to take a harsher stance against Israel.
Last month, a majority of Democrats in the Senate, for the first time, voted in favor of resolutions introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to suspend US assault weapons and 1,000-pound bombs to Israel.
Twenty-seven Democrats voted for the resolution halting assault rifles, and 24 voted for the resolution to stop the sale of bombs. Notably, the top Senate Democrat, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), voted against both resolutions.
Despite overwhelming support from their voters, the Democratic National Committee on Tuesday voted down a resolution calling for the US to suspend military aid to Israel.
"Democratic politicians who continue to support sending weapons to Israel are acting in direct defiance of their own constituents' wishes," said Nathan J. Robinson, the editor-in-chief of Current Affairs Magazine, in response to news of the latest polling numbers.
Previous polls have indicated that opposition to former President Joe Biden's arming of Israel was a primary reason why Democratic voters chose to abandon the Democratic Party in 2024, potentially costing then-Vice President Kamala Harris the election.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) said the poll showed that "Democrats continuing to ignore their base on the Palestine issue is insane," adding that if they continue down this path, "they will continue to lose."
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Democrats: Say No to Endless Killing in Ukraine and Give Peace a Chance
While some hawks still pretend that Ukraine could "win" the war with enough missiles, bombs, ammunition, and other supplies from the U.S., realists scoff at such claims.
Aug 10, 2025
After three and a half years of carnage in Ukraine, the meeting expected soon between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin is an opportunity to finally find a peaceful solution to a terrible war. Genuine diplomacy to end the bloodshed is long overdue.
Up to 100,000 Ukrainians are estimated to have been killed, many of them civilians, along with more than twice that number of deaths among Russian troops. Hundreds of thousands more have been wounded on each side, and Russian bombardment has devastated many of Ukraine’s cities and towns.
Condemnations of the Trump-Putin summit are predictable from congressional Democrats more interested in scoring political points than opening a diplomatic door for peace. While most Republican leaders will praise Trump no matter what he does, pressure from the so-called national security establishment could damage prospects for a peaceful outcome in Ukraine.
Since early 2022, the U.S. government, on a largely bipartisan basis, has provided upwards of $67 billion in military aid to Ukraine. Supporters of continuing the massive arming of Ukraine claim the highest moral ground, while others do the killing and dying. Even after it became clear that the war could go on indefinitely without any winner, the message from Washington’s elite politicians and pundits to the Ukrainian people has amounted to “let’s you and them fight.”
Last week, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) introduced a bill to give Ukraine $54.6 billion in aid over the next two years, with many billions going directly to arm the Ukrainian military. If the Trump-Putin summit is unsuccessful, the currently dim prospects for such legislation could brighten. This dynamic gives war enthusiasts and advocates for the military-industrial complex a motive to throw cold water on the summit.
While Murkowski now represents a minority view on Ukraine among fellow Republicans, Shaheen is decidedly in the mainstream of her Senate Democratic colleagues. Even after all the suffering and destruction in Ukraine, few seem really interested in giving peace a chance.
As for Trump, he has sometimes talked about seeking peace in Ukraine, even while greenlighting large quantities of weapons to the Kiev government. Given his mercurial approach, there is no telling what his mindset will be after meeting with Putin.
Most Democrats in Congress seem content with continuation of a war that has no end in sight. Little is being accomplished in military terms other than more killing, maiming and destruction.
During recent months, Ukrainian forces have lost ground to Russian troops. While some hawks still pretend that Ukraine could “win” the war with enough missiles, bombs, ammunition and other supplies from the U.S., realists scoff at such claims.
Unfortunately, while the war drags on, Democrats in Congress are prone to treat diplomacy as a third rail. To a large extent, their partisan template was reinforced nearly three years ago, making “diplomacy” a dirty word for the Ukraine war.
The fiasco began in late October 2022 with the release of a letter to President Biden signed by 30 House Democrats, led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. The letter was judicious in its tone and content, affirming support for Ukraine and appropriately condemning “Russia’s war of aggression.” But the signatories got in instant hot water because the letter balanced its support for arming Ukraine with sensibly urging steps that could stop a war without a foreseeable end.
“Given the destruction created by this war for Ukraine and the world, as well as the risk of catastrophic escalation, we also believe it is in the interests of Ukraine, the United States, and the world to avoid a prolonged conflict,” the letter stated. “For this reason, we urge you to pair the military and economic support the United States has provided to Ukraine with a proactive diplomatic push, redoubling efforts to seek a realistic framework for a ceasefire.”
Just one day later, Jayapal issued a statement declaring that “the Congressional Progressive Caucus hereby withdraws its recent letter to the White House regarding Ukraine.” For some members of the caucus, the sudden withdrawal was a jarring and embarrassing retreat from a stance for diplomacy.
Ever since then, the war train has continued to roll, unimpeded by cooler heads. And, like elected officials in Washington, voters are looking at the war through partisan lenses.
A March Gallup poll found that 79 percent of Democrats said that the U.S. was not doing enough to help Ukraine — a steep jump from 48 percent since the end of last year. During the same period, the number of surveyed Republicans with that view remained under 15 percent.
It is time for Americans and their elected representatives to set aside partisan lenses and see what’s really at stake with the Ukraine war. Endless killing is no solution at all.
Rebuilding détente between Washington and Moscow is essential — not only for the sake of Ukrainians and Russians who keep dying, but also for the entire world. The two nuclear superpowers must engage in dialogue and real diplomacy if the next generations all over the globe are to survive.
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Narrowing the Democratic Divide on Gaza
Why the historic vote on blocking weapons to Israel matters for progressive politics and the fight against Trump.
Aug 01, 2025
Wednesday’s Senate votes on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRDs) that would have blocked specific weapons transfers to Israel crystallized two critical realities within the Democratic Party as well as within the progressive movement more broadly. On one hand, 27 Senators, a majority of Democratic caucus, listened to their consciences and made a historic break with decades of unquestioned U.S. military aid to Israel. On the other hand, a substantial contingent of Democratic senators—some from states with progressive reputations and others who are self-styled progressive leaders—joined every single Republican senator in refusing to challenge the influential pro-Israel lobby.
The bipartisan consensus supporting unquestioned military aid to Israel had so far withheld a real reckoning as Gaza’s civilian population faces staggering devastation—bombed hospitals, restricted humanitarian access, and mounting numbers of civilians killed. Meanwhile, those realities in Gaza have caused a sea change with the Democratic Party’s increasingly justice-minded rank and file.
A Gallup poll from just this month found that a paltry 8% of Democratic voters approve of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, down sharply from 24% in late 2024, reflecting unprecedented disapproval amid mounting civilian casualties and humanitarian suffering. This collapse in support highlights a widening chasm between those Democratic leaders who continue to back unconditional military aid and the overwhelming majority of their base. This stark divide weakens the party as it tries to oppose U.S. President Donald Trump in D.C. and as it heads into upcoming elections.
How can Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) lead the Democratic Party against Trumpism if he sides with Bibi Netanyahu’s worst authoritarian instincts instead of with Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and the fight for human rights? How can someone like Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) give anti-authoritarian speeches about fighting “for the moral soul of the nation” while he votes to keep the U.S. complicit in starving a people and other war crimes? How can Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) claim to truly represent voters in progressive states like New York and California when they side with the Israel lobby over 90% of their base voters?
To present a robust counterweight to Trump’s authoritarianism, Democrats must articulate a fundamentally different vision—one that rejects complicity in violence abroad and centers human rights as a cornerstone of both its domestic and foreign policy.
As the atrocities in Gaza mount each day, the costs of listening to lobbying groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and aligned hardline organizations are growing. These groups leverage extraordinary financial and institutional clout, but they do so while representing a smaller and smaller subset of the electorate. At the same time, AIPAC has become a Republican dominated and Republican mega-donor funded organization. It is the largest conduit for Republican donors to meddle in Democratic primaries. It’s past time for the Democratic Party to divorce AIPAC and groups like it.
The electoral consequences of backing Israel’s war and oppression are already evident. A YouGov/IMEU survey reveals that nearly one-third of 2020 Biden voters who turned away from former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 cited the Gaza crisis and U.S. policy on Israel as the decisive issue—outranking traditional concerns such as healthcare and the economy.
Alignment with entrenched special interests, including a hardline Israeli government accused of genocide and other war crimes, undercuts the party’s credibility with key constituencies and diminishes the Democratic Party’s ability to offer a coherent alternative to Donald Trump. To present a robust counterweight to Trump’s authoritarianism, Democrats must articulate a fundamentally different vision—one that rejects complicity in violence abroad and centers human rights as a cornerstone of both its domestic and foreign policy. The longer party leaders cling to the status quo, the more it creates openings for authoritarian narratives to resonate with disaffected voters.
Meanwhile, left and progressive forces within and outside the party must use this opening wisely—mobilizing progressive coalitions for clear, principled anti-authoritarian shifts in U.S. foreign policy, including robust opposition to ongoing military aid that enables war crimes and ethnic cleansing. This week’s vote can provide a springboard for mobilization to thank senators who voted yes and cement their support for an end to the war—and Israel’s apartheid policies. Even more importantly, those who voted against holding Israel accountable for its war crimes must hear from their constituents in their offices, at town halls, and with overflowing phone lines and email inboxes.
The stakes could not be higher. Gaza is facing mass starvation, and 90% of Palestinians in Gaza are displaced. The decisions made in the coming months, especially around military aid appropriations and diplomatic strategy to end the war, will determine not only the future of Palestinians under siege but the credibility and political fortunes of the Democratic Party and any ability to push back Trump’s reactionary authoritarianism.
Those of us who care about the fate of the Palestinians have a role to play in shaping these outcomes. Power from below—organizing, mobilization, and moral witness—can push these elected officials to finally end U.S. complicity. Now is the time to push more senators to join the 27 who voted to block weapons this week. At the same time, we can also organize behind the Block the Bombs campaign in the House. Reps. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), along with 18 colleagues, have introduced historic legislation to block the U.S. weapons being sent to Israel and used in human rights violations. Supporters are campaigning this August to get as much support in Congress for this effort as possible. If all this mobilization can force more and more members of Congress to take a stand for human rights and justice, that will be good for Palestinians suffering in Gaza and good for American democracy.
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