Exclusive: Campus protests on Gaza split Democrats, unite Republicans amid fears of violence
Protests at American colleges over the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza are dividing Democrats and unifying Republicans as fears of campus violence loom.
An exclusive USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds complicated attitudes toward the protesters, their motives and their tactics. On this there is agreement: Two-thirds of voters (67%) express concern that the demonstrations and the police response will end up leading to violent confrontations.
Both the policy and political challenges are particularly steep for President Joe Biden.
Last week, he walked a careful line, condemning violence on college campuses while defending the free-speech rights of protestors. He has tried to balance support for Israel with calls for more humane treatment of Palestinians in Gaza who have seen families killed and communities destroyed in assaults that followed the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel. Famine is a rising threat.
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"I think it's a genocide and the way that they control water and humanitarian aid is unethical and I just don't see, like, how are they allowed?" said Tiffany Batton, 43, an independent from Chicago who backs Biden. She was among those surveyed. "I am thrilled to see young adults practicing their civil rights − freedom of speech and assembly − and they're doing it in a pretty peaceful way."
"I believe in peaceful protest, but it's getting a little out of hand," said Francis Spitale, 60, a Democrat from Charleston, South Carolina, who also supports Biden. Since the Oct. 7 attacks, Israel has been "a little extreme in their tactics, but they have to defend themselves."
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Biden voters are split: 30% support the protests, 39% agree with their demands but oppose their tactics, and 20% oppose them.
Trump voters are united: 78% oppose the protesters. Just 5% support them and 9% support their demands but oppose their tactics.
The poll of 1,000 registered voters, taken by landline and cell phone April 30 to May 3, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
Trump calls police crackdowns 'a beautiful thing to watch'
For Donald Trump, the issue has become a unifying force in a GOP that has been split on abortion and other issues. He has called the protestors "radical left lunatics" and praised the police crackdown on campus encampments at Columbia University and the University of California, Los Angeles, as "a beautiful thing to watch."
The crisis in the Mideast has become a talking point for Republicans against Biden. So has the footage of police arresting demonstrators and dismantling encampments as the protests spread to colleges across the country.
"This is all on Biden," declared Devy Walta, 67, a Republican retiree from Helena, Montana. "Trump left office; all of a sudden now there's a problem." He said college administrators and law enforcement officials "should be responding with an iron fist" if there is violence.
Among voters who tend to be in the GOP coalition, most of those surveyed oppose the demonstrations: 77% of conservatives, 52% of whites, 52% of men.
Among key groups that Democrats rely on in national elections, there is no such majority consensus.
Younger voters, those under 35, are a targeted demographic for Democrats. They are the age group most supportive of the protests: 35% support them and another 27% support their demands but oppose their tactics.
The oldest voters, those 65 and older, is the age group that, along with those 35 to 49, is the most supportive of Biden. They are also the one most aligned against the protests; 54% oppose them and just 10% support them.
Swing voters illustrate the political conundrum. Among those voters who now support a candidate but say they might change their minds before Election Day, 24% support the protests, 24% support them but oppose their tactics, and 41% oppose them.
Overall, 19% of those surveyed support the protests; 24% agree with their demands but oppose the way they are conducting themselves, and 46% oppose them.
Are the protestors antisemitic? Pro-Hamas?
Republicans and Democrats have strikingly different views of the protestors' motives and beliefs.
Republicans by nearly 3-1, 64%-22%, say the demonstrations reflect antisemitism. Democrats by 2-1, 57%-26%, say they don't.
Republicans by more than 3-1, 60%-17%, say a majority of the demonstrators are pro-Hamas. Democrats by 7-1, 69%-10%, say they aren't.
"I'm a free-speech absolutist, so any of these kids being arrested is sickening," said Brett Watchorn, 36, a shipping clerk from Denver. An independent, he supports Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the presidential race. College administrators should "negotiate and actually, you know, hear their complaints and address them. Don't just stand there and say, 'Oh, they're being antisemitic.' It's ridiculous."
He said Biden "should be on that picket line with them."
"I think they're ridiculous," Stephen Harrison, 52, a small-business owner from Manhattan, Montana, said of the protestors. "If you look at it from a world view, you know, who runs Palestine? Hamas is a terrorist organization. So, by proxy, supporting that region or supporting a free Palestine is supporting a terrorist organization."
He warned that violence could be ahead on American campuses. While there have been clashes between police and demonstrators on some campuses, most of the protests have been peaceful.
"Somebody throws a punch, somebody pushes somebody, and then the next thing you know, you got 25 cops beating up three kids," Harris said. "I don't think that's right, either, but you know what? Consequences."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Exclusive: Campus protests on Gaza split Democrats amid fears of violence
