Digital Library
How Americans view Israel and the Israel-Hamas war at the start of Trump's second term
Topic:
Israel & Regional Politics
Principal Investigators:
Laura Silver
Study Date:
2025
Source:
Pew Research Center
Key Findings:
This survey reveals significant shifts in American public opinion regarding Israel and the Israel-Hamas conflict, coinciding with the onset of President Donald Trump's second term and marked by increasing partisan polarization and generational divides. These trends suggest that U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East may face evolving public scrutiny and changing domestic support dynamics.
The survey indicates that 53% of U.S. adults now hold an unfavorable view of Israel, a notable increase from 42% in March 2022. This decline in favorability is more pronounced among Democrats, with 69% expressing unfavorable views, up from 53% in 2022. Among Republicans, unfavorable opinions rose from 27% to 37% over the same period. Age also plays a role; younger adults are more likely to view Israel negatively compared to older adults.
Confidence in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains relatively low among Americans. Only 32% express confidence in him to do the right thing regarding world affairs, while 52% have little or no confidence. Partisan differences are evident: 50% of Republicans express confidence in Netanyahu, compared to just 14% of Democrats. Among Republicans, confidence increases with age, from 22% among those under 30 to 71% among those 65 and older.
Fewer Americans now consider the Israel-Hamas war to be personally important or significant to U.S. national interests compared to early 2024. This shift suggests a waning public engagement with the conflict.
The survey highlights deepening partisan divides in sympathies toward the conflict. Approximately 79% of Republicans sympathize more with Israel, while only 27% of Democrats share this view. Among liberal Democrats, sympathy for Israel has decreased from 33% in 2016 to 19% in recent findings.
Generational differences are also evident. Younger Americans are less likely than older adults to assign significant responsibility to Hamas for the conflict. For instance, 46% of those under 30 say Hamas has "a lot" of responsibility, compared to about 80% of those 65 and older. Similarly, younger adults are more inclined to believe that Israel is going too far in its military operations against Hamas.
Religious affiliation influences perspectives on the conflict. White evangelical Christians are the most supportive of Israel, with 72% holding a positive view. In contrast, Muslim Americans are the most critical, with 81% expressing unfavorable opinions. Jewish Americans are divided, with 73% viewing Israel favorably but 53% expressing low confidence in Netanyahu.
Methodology:
Pew Research Center surveyed 3,605 U.S. adults from March 24 to 30, 2025. Everyone who took part in the survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), a group of people recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses who have agreed to take surveys regularly. This kind of recruitment gives nearly all U.S. adults a chance of selection. Interviews were conducted either online or by telephone with a live interviewer.
The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories.
The survey asked Americans whether they have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Israel, using just the name of the country rather than asking about “the Israeli people” or “the Israeli government.” Past research suggests that when Americans are asked about Israel, the answers they give are closer to their views on the Israeli government than to their views on the Israeli people. Pew asked about favorability of Israel (rather than the people or government) on this survey because it was part of a larger battery of questions asking about favorability of the U.S., Russia, China and other countries.
In this survey, Jews and Muslims are defined as U.S. adults who answer a question about their current religion by saying they are Jewish or Muslim, respectively. This short read does not separately analyze the views of “Jews of no religion” (i.e., people who identify as Jewish culturally, ethnically or by family background but not by religion).
Although only some religious subgroups are discussed in the analysis, the survey included respondents of many other religious backgrounds, including members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (widely known as Mormons), Hindus and Buddhists. But there are not enough respondents from these smaller groups to report on their answers separately.