Over 1 in 5 college students say they sympathize with Hamas: survey
86% of students say that they have learned about the situation from social media, while a third of students say they never or rarely fact-check the information they intake.
A new survey reveals that 22% of college students sympathize with Hamas.
The survey, from the college statistic website Intelligent.com, also reveals that only 25% of college students claim to be “very knowledgeable” about the current war between Israel and Hamas that has followed the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians.
86% of students say that they have learned about the situation from social media, while a third of students say they never or rarely fact-check the information they intake.
”Among the 99% of respondents who say they’ve used social media in the past three weeks, 32% say they see information about these issues all the time on social media, while 41% say they do often,” reports Intelligent.com. “Additionally, 19% say they see information about these issues some of the time, while 6% say not very often. Only 1% of social media users say they never see related information on their channels.
26% say they sympathize with the Israeli government.
”Sympathy is highest for Palestinian civilians among college students. Eighty-two percent of students feel sympathy for Palestinian civilians, while 72% sympathize with Israeli civilians,” the site reports. “However, twice as many students say they feel not much or no sympathy towards Israeli civilians compared to Palestinian civilians (12% compared to 5%).”
The survey was conducted Oct. 27 - Oct. 31 among 609 college students.