Noah already highlighted the Harvard/Harris poll showing a slight majority of younger Americans siding with Hamas, but I wanted to flag another eye-opening finding in the survey: A statistically significant group of them who describe the October 7 attacks as “genocidal” nonetheless support them.
Specifically, when asked, “Do you think that the attacks on Jews were genocidal in nature or not genocidal?” 62 percent of respondents aged 18 to 24 said yes. However, when asked, “Do you think the Hamas killing of 1200 Israeli civilians in Israel can be justified by the grievances of Palestinians or is it not justified?” a 51 percent to 49 percent majority said the attacks were justified.
To repeat: Sixty-two percent say the attacks were genocidal, but only 49 percent say the genocide against Jews wasn’t justified.
Unfortunately, it was not limited to this age group.
Among 25- to 34-year-olds, 71 percent said the attacks were genocidal, but only 52 percent said they weren’t justified; among 35- to 44-year-olds, 72 percent said they were genocidal compared to 61 percent who said they weren’t justified.
Only after age 45 do the numbers start to become more rational, with more people saying the attacks weren’t justified than saying they were genocidal.
There are two ways to interpret this finding. One is to think there are millions of Americans who are okay with genocide against the Jews. Another explanation is that there are millions of people who don’t know what “genocidal” means.
Or, as Sonny Corleone put it, “Did you go to college to get stupid?”