More than 500 days after the Hamas-led terror attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, most Americans view Israel unfavorably, according to new data from the Pew Research Center.
Some 53% of Americans see the Jewish state in a negative light, up 11 percentage points from 2022, when 42% had unfavorable views, and in 2025, about double the number of U.S. adults say that they see Israel very unfavorably: 19% compared to 10%.
Democrats and those who lean left (69%) were much likelier than Republicans and those who lean right (37%) to see Israel unfavorably. That view rose for both Democrats (16 percentage points) and Republicans (10 percentage points).
Younger Americans tended to see Israel less favorably. Among those 18 to 49, 71% of Democrats and those who lean left see Israel unfavorably (up from 62% in 2022), and 50% of Republicans and those who lean right (up from 35% in 2022) see the Jewish state unfavorably. For those over 50, 66% of Democrats (up from 43%) and 23% of Republicans (up from 19%) see Israel unfavorably.
Pew surveyed 3,605 American adults between March 24 and 30, before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent visit to Washington. Some 32% of respondents said they have at least some confidence in Netanyahu.
Jewish Americans were the group that most favored Israel, 73% to 27%, followed by white evangelical Protestants, 72% to 26%.
The negativity is driven by Muslim Americans (81% negative and 19% positive) and those who are unaffiliated with any religion (69% negative and 28% positive). Catholics also leaned negative, 53% to 45%.
Republicans (50%) were much likelier than Democrats (15%) to be confident in Netanyahu. About 17% of Republicans, and those who lean Republican, had a lot of confidence in the Israeli prime minister, and 37% of Democrats, and those who lean Democrat, said they had no confidence at all.
About the same percentage of American Jews (53%) lacked confidence in Netanyahu as did the overall U.S. adult population (52%), although 45% of American Jews had at least some confidence in the Israeli prime minister, compared to 32% of American adults. Only 8% of Muslim Americans expressed confidence, while 87% said they had no confidence.
Most Americans (54%) told pollsters that the war against Hamas is at least somewhat important to them—down from 65% who said the same in January 2024, shortly after Oct. 7.
Republicans and those leaning right (55%) and Democrats and those leaning left (56%) reported that the war matters to them in similar numbers. Republicans (69%) and Democrats (61%) over the age of 50 were likelier than Republicans (41%) and Democrats (51%) between 18 and 49 to say that the war matters to them. Some two-thirds (66%) of all respondents said the war was at least somewhat important to U.S. interests.
Jews were the likeliest (93%) to say the war mattered to them personally, followed by Muslims (68%), white evangelical Protestants (66%), Protestants and non-evangelical white Protestants (58% each), Catholics (56%) and those who are religiously unaffiliated (47%). Just 4% of Jews said that the war wasn’t personally important to them, compared to 25% of Muslims.
Last year, 75% of adults said the war against Hamas was at least somewhat important for U.S. national interests. That number dropped to 66% in January. Some 92% of Jewish Americans and 66% of Muslim Americans said that the war was important for U.S. interests.
Nearly a third (31%) of U.S. adults said that U.S. President Donald Trump favors Israel too much. Just 13% of Republicans and those who lean right, and 50% of Democrats and those who lean left, agreed that Trump supports the Jewish state too much. Only 3% thought Trump was favoring the Palestinians too much, with similar numbers across the aisle.
Pew found division in the Jewish community on the question. Jews were likelier (36%) than Americans overall to say that Trump favors Israel too much. Some 43% said he was striking the right balance—something 29% of the general public said. About 2% said he favors the Palestinians too much, and 17% were unsure. (Among Americans broadly, 37% were unsure.)
“By comparison, in February 2024, when we asked about former President Joe Biden’s approach, Jewish adults were less likely to say Biden was favoring Israelis too much (13% vs. 36% for Trump) and more likely to say he was favoring Palestinians too much (18% vs. 2% for Trump),” Pew stated. “Jewish Americans were about as likely to say Biden was striking the right balance as they are to say that about Trump (45% vs. 43%).”
Pew found that about the same number of Muslim Americans (70%) said that Trump and Biden favored Israel too much.
Less than half (46%) of American adults think a two-state solution is possible, down from 52% in late 2023. Those who at least lean left (56%) were much more likely to think a two-state solution is possible than those who at least lean right (36%).
The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points.
