A Pew Research Center survey released July 9, 2026, found that 44 percent of Muslim American respondents held a favorable view of Hamas — the highest share of any religious group measured. That figure combines "very" and "somewhat favorable" ratings of Hamas as an entity, and, as Pew's July 2026 report notes, it does not measure support for the October 7 attack or Hamas's governance. For readers who evaluate polls and survey panels, this number is a useful case study. The headline is accurate, but the wording strips away distinctions that the underlying data preserves — and knowing where those distinctions live is exactly the skill this page is meant to build.
Official resource:
- Pew Research Center full report and detailed data tables — Use this primary source to review the underlying data.
Table of Contents
- What the 44 percent actually measures
- How the poll was built
- Why context changes the meaning
- How Muslim respondents compare to everyone else
- Reading survey headlines like this one
- Frequently Asked Questions
What the 44 percent actually measures
The survey asked respondents to rate Hamas on a favorability scale. "Favorable" here bundles two separate answers — "very favorable" and "somewhat favorable" — into one number. That bundling is standard practice, but it means the 44 percent includes people with mild and strong views alike. Crucially, favorability is not the same as endorsing violence.
Pew's earlier work makes this gap concrete: in 2024, about 49 percent of U.S. Muslims said Hamas had "valid reasons" for fighting while far fewer endorsed the October 7 attack itself. A single favorability item cannot tell you which of those a respondent meant. So the honest reading of the headline is narrow: 44 percent expressed a positive rating of Hamas as an entity. It does not establish support for the group's tactics, its rule in Gaza, or any specific act.
How the poll was built
The 2026 survey polled 12,574 U.S. adults between May 4 and 17, 2026, with an overall margin of error of ±1.3 points. Pew deliberately oversampled Muslim and Jewish adults so it could report reliable comparisons between smaller religious groups. That design choice matters for how you read the Muslim figure.
Because Muslims are a small share of the U.S. population, even an oversample yields a comparatively small subsample. Its true margin of error is substantially wider than the ±1.3 points quoted for the full survey. The practical takeaway: treat 44 percent as approximate, not precise. A responsible reader mentally surrounds it with a wider band rather than reading it as an exact count.
Why context changes the meaning
The Hamas number does not sit alone. Among Muslim Americans, only about 4 percent viewed Israel favorably in 2026 — a mirror-image figure that suggests the Hamas rating reflects broader Israel–Palestine sentiment rather than a standalone embrace of the group. The wider climate shifted too. Pew found that Americans' views of Israelis grew more negative in 2026 while views of Palestinians held fairly steady.
The Hamas item sits inside that moving picture, not in isolation. There is also a trend worth naming. The 44 percent is up roughly 7 points from a 2024 Pew survey, where about 37 percent of U.S. Muslims viewed Hamas favorably. That makes this a direction of travel, not a one-off spike.
How Muslim respondents compare to everyone else
The 44 percent stands out because most Americans view Hamas the opposite way. Overall, about 84 percent of the U.S.
public rates Hamas unfavorably. Broken out by group, the contrast is sharp: Muslims are a clear outlier. That gap is real and worth reporting plainly — but it coexists with the earlier caveats about wording and margin of error, not in place of them.
- Jewish adults: about 2 percent favorable
- White evangelicals: about 4 percent
- Catholics: about 8 percent
- Black Protestants: about 17 percent
- Muslim adults: 44 percent
Reading survey headlines like this one
This story is a template for a recurring problem: a technically accurate headline that outruns its data. You can pressure-test almost any poll headline with a few quick checks. For the full wording, group breakdowns, and detailed tables, go to the Pew Research Center report rather than relying on any secondhand summary.
- Find the exact question. "Favorable" and "supports the attack" are different items with different numbers.
- Check the subsample size. A figure about a small group carries a wider margin of error than the topline.
- Look for a comparison. A number means little until you see the other groups or the prior year.
- Read the trend, not just the point. A 44 that was 37 two years ago tells a different story than a flat 44.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does 44 percent mean 44 percent of Muslims support the October 7 attack?
No. The item measures general favorability toward Hamas as an entity. Pew's own data shows favorability and approval of specific violence diverge sharply.
How reliable is the 44 percent figure?
It comes from a large, well-designed Pew survey, but the Muslim subsample is small, so its margin of error is wider than the survey's ±1.3 points. Read it as approximate.
Is this number rising?
Yes. It is up about 7 points from roughly 37 percent in a 2024 Pew survey, suggesting a trend rather than a single outlier reading.
