Democratic voter support for Israel plummets to historic low
Just 13% of Democrats express a positive view of Israel in a new NBC news poll
A protest listing names of people killed by Israel during Minnesota roll call at the 2024 Democratic National Convention at United Center in Chicago. Photo by Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
By Arno Rosenfeld March 16, 2026
Support for Israel among Democratic voters has plummeted by more than half over the past three years, with only 13% of Democrats now expressing a positive view of Israel while 57% hold a negative view amid the U.S.-Israel war against Iran, according to a new NBC News poll.
The numbers mark a stunning shift since the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack against Israel, when Democrats were evenly split in their outlook toward Israel: one-third had a favorable view, one-third had a negative view and one-third were neutral.
They reflect a broader softening of support for Israel among all voters, including Republicans, though the most dramatic movement has taken place among Democrats, independents and younger Americans.
It also comes amid the ongoing war between the United States and Israel against Iran, which is broadly unpopular among all Americans but especially among Democrats. Many have blamed Israel for drawing the U.S. into the conflict, a view encouraged by statements from some Trump advisors suggesting they entered the war at least partly at Israel’s behest.
The new data tracks with similar findings showing disapproval of how Israel conducted its war in Gaza — with large shares of Americans, including Jews, believing that Israel committed genocide against the Palestinians — and growing sympathy for Hamas.
Halie Soifer, chief of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, which represents Jewish Democrats, argued that eroding support for Israel among Democrats was the result of President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “politicizing” the two countries’ longstanding alliance.
“The majority of Democrats care deeply about the U.S.-Israel relationship and the future of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, while also being highly critical of the policies of this far-right Israeli government,” Soifer said in an interview. “We can hold both.”
Others said the data reflected a more durable shift in public opinion that had been in the works since well before Oct. 7 and that transcended specific policy disagreements with Trump or Netanyahu.
Yousef Munayyer, a Palestinian-American political analyst, pointed to a sharp rightward shift in Israeli politics. “Israeli society is moving in a direction that is different than what Americans would like to see: It’s becoming more theocratic and more expansionist,” he said in an interview. “Israeli society today is fundamentally different than it was 30 years ago — and it is repelling Americans.”
Overall, the NBC poll found that American voters overall are about evenly split in sympathy for Israelis and Palestinians — 40% to 39%. But that marks a dramatic shift compared to 2013, when only 13% of voters sympathized with the Palestinians.
Republican support for Israel remained roughly unchanged over that period at around 69% of voters, but sympathy for the Palestinians nearly doubled, from 8% to 13%.
Soifer acknowledged that some American Jews may feel increasingly alienated from the Democratic party — where a number of leaders and candidates have condemned Israel while supporting the Palestinian cause — but contended that it remained a better fit for American Jews who care about Israel than the Republican Party, which has a growing isolationist wing.
“I am concerned that Jews — the majority of whom have an emotional connection to Israel but also disagree with the policies of this Israeli government — may be struggling politically because we’ve seen this issue so heavily politicized on both sides of the aisle,” she said.
(A recent Washington Post poll found that 39% of American Jews believed that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, even as 76% agreed that the country’s existence was “vital for the long-term future of the Jewish people.”)
Soifer drew a contrast between Democratic criticism of Israel, focused on “moral arguments regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” versus growing Republican hostility toward Israel represented by figures like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, fueled by antipathy toward Jews.
The NBC survey of 1,000 registered voters was conducted by phone and online between Feb. 27 and March 3. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
