Majority of Americans hold unfavourable view of Israel Pew poll finds

More than a majority of Americans now have a negative view of Israel, according to a recent poll, underscoring the fallout from Israel’s war on Gaza.

According to a Pew Research poll published on Tuesday, 53 percent of Americans now express an unfavourable opinion of Israel, up from 42 percent in March 2022 - before the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel and Israel’s decimation of the enclave.

Democrats are still more likely than Republicans to express a negative opinion of Israel by 69 percent to 37 percent, respectively. But the number of Republicans who hold negative opinions on Israel has increased 10 percentage points since 2022.

Young Republicans, those under the age of 50, especially, are now more likely to have an unfavourable view of Israel, with 50 percent polling in that direction. That gap underscores the rise of popular alternative conservative media voices like Candice Owens and Tucker Carlson, who have become more open to challenging Israel.

Among Democrats, those with a negative view of Israel has also grown. The 69 percent of Democrats with that view marks a 16 percent increase since 2022, when 53 percent of Democrats viewed Israel unfavourably.

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A majority of Americans across every demographic on both sides, with the exception of Republicans aged 18-49, agree that Israel's war on Gaza was both "personally" important to them and US interests.

Jewish Americans have been moving away from Israel in recent years. This trend picked up over domestic differences within Israel over the country’s Supreme Court but has been turbocharged since the war in Gaza erupted. However, at least 73 percent of Jewish Americans still hold a favourable view of Israel.

After them, White evangelicals hold the highest favourable view of Israel at 72 percent. Notably, more White Protestants and Catholics now hold unfavourable views of Israel at 50 percent and 53 percent, respectively.

Muslim Americans hold the strongest unfavourable views of Israel, with 81 percent against and just 19 percent viewing Israel favourably.

Americans don't want to 'take over' Gaza

The poll was conducted just before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House earlier this week. His trip came amid rising tensions between the US, Israel and Iran, and with a Gaza ceasefire process that is stalled as Israel continues to pummel the Gaza Strip.

US President Donald Trump's handling of Israel's war on Gaza garnered mixed results among those polled, with 31 percent saying he is favouring the Israelis too much and 29 percent saying he's striking the right balance. Just three percent said he was favouring Palestinians too much, with the highest chunk of respondents, 37 percent, saying they were unsure.

More than half of Americans think that a two-state solution "cannot be found for Israel and an independent Palestinian state to co-exist peacefully", while 46 percent still think it can be done.

Trump also reiterated his previous plan to "take over" the Gaza Strip during his meeting with Netanyahu, an idea that 36 percent of Americans think Trump will not pursue, according to the Pew poll.

Polling showed the idea is unpopular with Americans, with 62 percent opposing the US "taking over Gaza", including 49 percent who strongly oppose it. Just 15 percent support the plan.

Trump also announced during Netanyahu’s visit that the US would begin “direct talks" with Iran on a nuclear deal on Saturday. Tehran says the talks will be indirect.

Netanyahu is seen as an advocate for military strikes on Iran. One of Trump’s top advocates in the US media, conservative podcaster Carlson, wrote ahead of Netanyahu’s visit how “now is the worst possible time for the United States to participate in a military strike on Iran”.

“We can’t afford it. Thousands of Americans would die. We’d lose the war that follows. Nothing would be more destructive to our country,” he said.

According to the survey, a slim majority of Americans, 52 percent, have little or no confidence in Netanyahu to “do the right thing regarding world affairs”.

Among Jewish Americans, 53 percent have little to no confidence in Netanyahu.

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