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Though 45 percent of students say they agree with pro-Palestinian protests on campuses, only 13 percent consider the conflict in the Middle East the most important of nine issues, according to a survey of 1,250 two- and four-year college students conducted by Generation Lab and reported by Axios. That puts it in dead last, behind health care reform, which 40 percent cited as the most important, access to education (38 percent), economic fairness and opportunity (37 percent), racial justice (36 percent), climate change (35 percent), gun control (32 percent), immigration policies (21 percent) and national security (15 percent).
More students blame Hamas for Israel’s war in Gaza (34 percent) than blame Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (19 percent), the Israeli people (12 percent) or U.S. President Joe Biden (12 percent).
More than four of every five students support penalizing protesters who broke laws or institutional policies.
Students generally disagree with unlawful protest tactics, with 67 percent saying they oppose the occupation of campus buildings and 58 percent saying “it’s not acceptable to refuse a university’s order to disperse,” Axios reported. A whopping 90 percent said it’s unacceptable to block pro-Israel students from navigating campus freely.
