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By Sharon Zhang / Truthout
New polling finds that a comfortable majority of Republicans say they would rather the U.S. fund health care programs at home than continue to send billions to Israel, in the latest show of the increasing divide between the public and U.S. political leaders on Israel policy.
Polling conducted last month asked whether or not Republican voters believe that the U.S. should give Israel funding when such funds could instead be used to fund health care at home.
A majority of respondents, at 65 percent, said that they believe the U.S. should “reinvest” taxpayer funding for Israel into lowering the cost of health care at home. This proportion grows to a whopping 74 percent among younger Republicans, aged between 18 and 44 years old.
The findings were included in a survey released on Tuesday by Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) Policy Project and conducted by YouGov. The survey found broad support for various proposals to reappropriate funding for Israel, with pluralities supporting funding other domestic programs instead, like providing housing to unhoused people and universal school meals.
The polling comes as the U.S. is sending record amounts of military assistance to Israel as it commits genocide in Gaza. At the same time, the Trump administration is carrying out sweeping cuts to health care and other crucial programs at home, including nearly $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, in policy changes that researchers estimate will lead to tens of thousands of preventable deaths each year.
Previous polling has found that support for Israel among the American public has waned significantly amid the genocide, but suggested that that change has been largely driven by a drop in support from Democrats. Indeed, in the IMEU/YouGov polling, Republicans indicated that they still favor Israel over Palestine and still generally support the idea of funding Israel.
However, the polling exposed key weaknesses in that position. For instance, support for the U.S.’s policies of unconditional funding for Israel may be waning among Republicans.
IMEU/YouGov found that a plurality of Republicans said that the U.S. should allow its 10-year agreement to send Israel $3.8 billion every year to lapse when it expires in 2028, with 42 percent saying as such. Only 35 percent said the agreement should be renewed. A similar proportion, 43 percent, opposes a reported deal being negotiated by the Trump administration for that contract to be extended to 20 years.
The results also suggest that Democrats could peel off some votes from Republicans if they pledge to focus more on lowering costs than sending Israel unconditional funds. In a hypothetical general election between a Republican who supported unconditionally funding Israel and a Democrat who opposed it, 17 percent of Republicans said they’d vote for the Democrat — compared to 4 percent who said they’d support the Democrat if the two candidates both supported funding Israel.
When asked about a hypothetical primary election, a plurality of Republicans said that they would support a presidential candidate who supports reducing funding to Israel, at 44 percent, compared to 32 who say they’d support someone who wants to continue sending the same amount, and only 5 percent who want their candidate to send more.
Further, in a potential show of voters’ growing rejection of the pro-Israel lobby, more Republicans said that they would rather support a candidate who rejected funding from AIPAC than one who accepted it in the upcoming congressional elections or presidential primary.
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Sharon Zhang
Sharon Zhang is a news writer at Truthout covering politics, climate and labor. Before coming to Truthout, Sharon had written stories for Pacific Standard, The New Republic, and more. She has a master’s degree in environmental studies. She can be found on Twitter: @zhang_sharon.