Washington, August 4 (RHC)-- There is a gap between where American voters stand and where U.S. administrations and lawmakers stand on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
Two new polls conducted in the United States show a large majority of Americans, including Republicans, are opposed to laws criminalizing boycotts against Israel.

The surveys carried out in May and in June by the University of Maryland's Critical Issues Poll also show more Democratic voters in the U.S. support the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement than oppose it.

The findings add a new dimension to what is already seen as a gap between where American voters stand and where U.S. administrations and lawmakers stand on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

According to the polls, 33 percent of Democratic voters support BDS while 10 percent oppose it.  The majority, 37 percent, said they did not know, while another 20 percent said they neither supported nor opposed it.

The Biden administration has stated that it is opposed to the BDS campaign. On the international level, it has sought to combat any attempts to boycott Israel.  The new data reflects a major disconnect between voters and lawmakers, who across the country in dozens of states have worked to pass laws that criminalize any boycott against Israel.

The polls also showed that Democratic voters view the Biden administration's positions to be favoring Israel.  When asked whether they supported laws criminalizing the boycott against Israel, 68 percent of all respondents including a slight majority of Republicans said that they were against such laws.

The question of boycotting Israel has taken center stage in an ongoing case between Ben & Jerry's, its parent company Unilever, and the Tel Aviv regime.

The company's decision to stop selling products from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank has been met with scorn by both Israel and the US government that have accused the ice cream maker of boycotting Israel.