Poll: Significant Shift in American Voters' Attitudes Towards Israel

Washington – Said Arikat - 3/17/2026

A poll published by NBC News on Monday revealed a striking shift in public opinion among registered American voters towards Israel, with negative views now clearly outweighing positive views for the first time in recent years.

According to the poll results, 39 percent of registered American voters currently view Israel negatively, compared to only 32 percent who hold a positive view. This shows a significant decline compared to 2023, when 47 percent of opinions were positive versus 24 percent negative.

This shift is particularly evident among independent voters, who represent an influential voting bloc in American elections and played a significant role in Donald Trump's election to the White House in the 2024 presidential election.

In 2023, 40 percent of this group held a pro-Israel view, compared to only 22 percent with a negative view. But by 2026, negative attitudes had almost doubled to 48 percent, while positive attitudes dropped to only 21 percent.

This shift comes in the context of the dramatic developments in the Middle East conflict since October 7, 2023, when "Hamas" launched an attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people, according to claims by the Israeli government. Israel responded with a war that lasted more than two years on Gaza until the ceasefire on October 10, 2025, resulting in the deaths of more than 72,000 Palestinians, according to estimates circulated in international reports. The United Nations, a number of human rights experts, and international leaders have concluded that the Israeli war may have included acts that could be classified as genocide.

It is worth noting that Israel continues its aggression on Gaza, having killed more than 800 citizens in the besieged strip since then.

The war in Gaza was accompanied by a broader regional escalation, including Israeli attacks in Lebanon and Syria, in addition to aggression against Qatar with the aim of assassinating Hamas leaders in Qatar. The United States and Israel also waged a devastating war on Iran that is still ongoing, harming neighboring Arab countries.

Rising Sympathy for Palestinians

In parallel with the decline in Israel's image among American voters, the poll shows a clear increase in levels of sympathy for Palestinians.

The results showed that 40 percent of participants said they sympathize with Palestinians, compared to 39 percent who expressed sympathy for Israel in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This represents a significant shift compared to 2013, when the same network, NBC News, conducted the first similar poll among registered voters; at that time, the percentage of those sympathetic to Palestinians did not exceed 13 percent.

The shift appears even clearer among American Democrats, where 67 percent of registered Democratic voters said they stand with Palestinians, compared to only 18 percent in 2013. In contrast, only 17 percent of registered Democrats now declare their support for Israel.

Among Republicans, support for Israel remains relatively strong, at 67 percent, a figure close to the 69 percent recorded in 2013. However, other polls indicate a growing gap between young and older Republicans in their assessment of Israel. A poll conducted by the Pew Research Center and published in April 2025 showed that 50 percent of Republicans under the age of 50 are now inclined to adopt a less supportive stance towards Israel.

Sharp Decline Among Young Voters

This trend is reinforced by the NBC News poll, which indicates a significant decline in the level of support for Israel among young voters in the United States.

The poll showed that only 13 percent of voters aged 18 to 34 hold a positive view of Israel, while 63 percent view it negatively. In 2023, 37 percent of this group held a negative view, compared to 26 percent positive, while 37 percent remained neutral.

The decline is not limited to young people alone, as a decrease in positive views was recorded across different age groups. The most significant decline was among voters aged 50 to 64; where the percentage of positive views decreased from 58 percent in 2023 to 37 percent in 2026, while the percentage of negative views almost doubled from 15 percent to 30 percent.

These indicators suggest that the shift in American public sentiment towards Israel is no longer just a temporary reaction to specific political or military events, but rather appears to be gradually moving towards a more entrenched pattern over time. A comparison between 2013, 2023, and 2026 data reveals a cumulative trajectory of increasing sympathy for Palestinians versus a decline in positive views of Israel. This trajectory reflects the impact of multiple factors, including the spread of information through social media, the growing presence of human rights discourse in American political discussions, in addition to demographic shifts within electoral blocs.

The data also suggests that the ongoing change is not confined to one political category, but is gradually extending across the American partisan spectrum, albeit to varying degrees. While support for Israel remains strong among Republicans, polls reveal a widening age gap within the party itself, with younger voters showing an increasing tendency to criticize Israeli policies. As this intergenerational gap continues, this trend may become a long-term factor reshaping the nature of American political attitudes towards the Middle East conflict over the next decade.

From a broader perspective, these results can be interpreted as part of a deeper cultural and political transformation within American society, where human rights and international justice issues have become more prominent in shaping public opinion. With the increasing direct and immediate coverage of conflicts through digital media, images of wars and their humanitarian consequences are having a greater impact on public perception. If these dynamics continue, the change in attitudes towards the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is likely to become more pronounced and stable over time.