Most Republicans support the right to protest — unless it’s against Israel, poll finds

By Brendan Rascius

March 19, 2025

https://archive.vn/VJnAZ

Most Republicans support the right to protest — unless it’s against Israel, according to new polling.

In the latest Economist/YouGov survey, a strong majority of GOP respondents, 73%, said they support Americans’ ability to protest against actions they view as unjust. Just 12% said they oppose this, and 14% said they weren’t sure.

But, when asked if it should be legal or illegal to protest “against Israeli actions in Gaza,” less than half of Republicans, 42%, said it should be legal. Meanwhile, 23% said this kind of public demonstration should be illegal, and 35% said they were not sure.

The poll — conducted March 16-18 with 1,618 U.S. adults — found support for protests was more consistent among Democrats and independents.

Eighty-six percent of Democrats and 81% of independents said they backed the right to demonstrate against actions perceived as unjust, while less than 20% of both groups said they opposed this or were unsure.

When it came to anti-Israel protests, 73% of Democrats said they should be legal, while 5% said they should be outlawed and 22% said they weren’t sure. A majority of independents, 57%, also said they should be legal, while 9% said they should be illegal and 34% said they didn’t know.

The right to protest is enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution, which states that no laws shall be made that prohibit “the right of the people peaceably to assemble.”

The poll — which has a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points — also found views on the sympathies of anti-Israel protesters differed greatly by party.

A majority of Republicans said they believe all (13%), most (25%) or half (14%) of the people who protest against Israeli actions in Gaza support Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist group by the U.S.

In contrast, a small fraction of Democrats believe support for Hamas is widespread among anti-Israel demonstrators in the U.S. Just 2% said they believe all of the protestors support Hamas, and 8% said most or all of them do.

A slightly larger share of independents — but still a minority — said they believe all (4%), most (16%) or half (9%) of those protesting against Israeli actions support Hamas.

More on protesters and the war in Gaza

The poll comes after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student and green card holder who participated in campus protests against Israel, on March 8.

“This is the first arrest of many to come,” President Donald Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it.”

On March 19, a federal judge in New York ruled that Khalil — who is being held in Louisiana — can challenge his detention, according to the Associated Press.

The case calls for careful review, the judge said, noting that it will need to be determined if the government “violated the law.”

The poll also comes after the Israeli military renewed strikes on Gaza following a two-month ceasefire brokered with the assistance of the Trump administration.

In a March 18 statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes were initiated after Hamas refused to hand over Israeli hostages.

The resumption of hostilities marks the continuation of a yearslong conflict in Gaza, which began Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants invaded Israel and killed about 1,200 civilians and took 251 hostages, according to U.S. officials.

Since the outbreak of the war, about 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, most of whom were women, older people and children, according to Reuters, citing Palestinian authorities.

The Israeli military campaign has also led to the displacement of some 1.9 million Gazans, many of whom have gone without access to adequate food, water and electricity, according to the United Nations.