Most Americans support cease-fires in Middle East, Ukraine wars: Poll

Majorities of Americans support cease-fires in the ongoing wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, according to a new poll.

The new Economist/YouGov poll found that 68 percent of American respondents support a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine, while 8 percent said they would not. In addition, 65 percent of respondents said they would support a cease-fire between Israel and the militant group Hamas, which are nearing their two-month mark of fighting. Meanwhile, 16 percent said they are opposed to a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.

While most Americans were supportive cease-fires in each of the wars, Democrats were more likely than Republicans to call for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas conflict. Among Democrats, 77 percent of respondents said they would back a cease-fire in the war, while 58 percent of Republicans said the same.

Similar shares of Democrats and Republicans supported a cease-fire in the Russia-Ukraine war, with 67 percent of Democrats and 75 percent of Republicans backing it.

This comes as Israel and Hamas agreed Thursday to a one-day extension of their temporary truce, meaning that Israel will hold off on its attacks on Gaza as long as Hamas releases a certain number of hostages. Hamas militants captured about 240 people during the group’s initial attack on Israel on Oct. 7, which also left more than 1,200 Israelis dead. Israel has since carried out a series of airstrikes and a ground offensive in Gaza, which have killed more than 13,300 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Americans were more divided when asked whether they would support further aid to Israel or Ukraine. Overall, additional aid to Israel garnered more support from Republicans, while additional aid to Ukraine was more popular among Democrats.

Among all American respondents, 32 percent said they support the current level of aid to Israel, 21 percent said they want more aid to the country and 23 percent said they want less. Republicans were more likely to support more aid, with 34 percent in favor and just 15 percent saying they wanted to decrease aid.

In comparison, just 17 percent of Democrats said they wanted to see more aid to Israel, while 24 percent wanted to see the aid decreased.

Democrats were more likely to support additional aid to Ukraine, a finding that comes as many members of the House GOP are opposing authorizing more aid to the war-stricken country. Asked about Ukraine support, 35 percent of Democrats said they wanted to see more aid, while just 19 percent of Republicans said the same. Additionally, 44 percent of Republicans said they wanted to see aid to Ukraine decreased, but just 11 percent of Democrats agreed.

The poll was conducted Nov. 25-27 among 1,500 U.S. adult citizens and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.