Pennsylvanians oppose more economic and military aid to Israel, view the American Israel Public Affairs Committee unfavorably and don’t want to vote for a candidate favoring more military aid to the Jewish state, giving Israel more military assistance.
That’s according to a new poll of likely voters in the nation’s most populous swing state.
But likely voters in the New York Times/Siena University/Philadelphia Inquirer survey are also strongly supportive of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish and pro-Israel but also critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Shapiro led his Republican opponent, state treasurer Stacy Garrity, 58% to 38% in this fall’s gubernatorial race, where a strong performance could elevate the governor to the top tier of potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidates.
He had a 60% job approval rating, with only 33% disapproving. Among white voters without a college degree, a key element of U.S. President Donald Trump’s coalition, 53% viewed his performance in office favorably, compared with 40%.
Trump, on the other hand, was in negative territory among likely voters in the state he carried twice, with a 63% job disapproval rating and only 34% approving. Among those white voters without college degrees, 54% disapproved and 42% approved.
The poll was encouraging to Democrats hoping to win a House majority in Congress in the November midterm elections. Pennsylvania has competitive contests in four districts, all currently held by Republicans, and Democrats need to win just three GOP-held seats to take back the chamber.
By 53% to 44%, likely voters said they were more likely to vote for a Democrat than a Republican, and 91% of Democrats said they were enthusiastic about voting this fall compared with 84% of Republicans.
Likely voters opposed sending more economic and military aid to Israel by 60% to 34%. But a wide partisan divide remained, with Republicans supporting additional assistance by 59% to 36% and Democrats rejecting it by 80% to 14%.
By 41% to 26%, likely voters said they would vote for a candidate who opposes military aid to Israel over one that favored it, but 30% said it didn’t make a difference in deciding who to support.
There was a partisan divide there too, with Democrats opposing the candidate who would send the assistance by 63% to 9% and 24% saying it wouldn’t make a difference. Republicans sided with the candidate who wanted to approve more aid, 49% to 16%, with 33% saying it didn’t matter.
AIPAC didn’t fare well among likely voters, with 38% viewing the group unfavorably and 18% favorably. But three in 10 voters said they never heard of the pro-Israel lobby.
Likely voters disapproved of Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), one of Israel’s most ardent supporters on Capitol Hill, 47% to 42%, with 77% of Democrats viewing him unfavorably.
He had a 75% favorable rating among Republicans. Overall, by 57% to 26%, likely voters said he was more a Republican than a Democrat, even though Fetterman has said he would not change parties.
Antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker, who has called Orthodox Jews “inbred” and had kind words for Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists, was viewed unfavorably by 23% and favorably by only 6%. But almost two-thirds of likely voters, 65%, said they had never heard of him.
The poll of 615 likely voters was conducted Sept. 15-22 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
