More U.S. registered voters now view Israel negatively than positively, according to a new poll, which also found that negative sentiment toward Israel has grown in every age group since 2023, most sharply among young voters.
The NBC News poll found “American public sentiment turning against Israel since 2023,” NBC’s Sahil Kapur reported March 16. “Double-digit drops in positive views of Israel: -21 among Democrats, -19 among independents, -9 among Republicans. Overall, a double-digit increase in negative views.”
New @NBCNews poll finds American public sentiment turning against Israel since 2023. Double-digit drops in positive views of Israel: -21 among Democrats, -19 among independents, -9 among Republicans. Overall, a double-digit increase in negative views. https://t.co/5GUwokF5qM pic.twitter.com/QSOa5tBYVk
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) March 16, 2026
Putting the new numbers in sharp relief, NBC published the new results alongside the results the same survey found in 2023 and 2013.
When the survey asked registered voters in 2013 whether they sympathized more with Israelis or Palestinians, 45% favored Israelis and only 13% favored Palestinians. In 2026, NBC reported, “40% of registered voters say they side more with the Israelis, while 39% choose the Palestinians” – a massive jump in public sympathy for Palestinians.
Israel’s growing unpopularity since the beginning of its military campaign in Gaza following the October 7, 2023, terror attack is especially dramatic in the cases of Independents, Democrats, and young voters.
“The data also outlines major changes in how many of those groups view Israel and a Palestinian state generally,” NBC reported. “Now, almost 60% of Democrats and almost 50% of independents view Israel negatively, a change from when NBC News last asked this question in November 2023, shortly after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Those shifts contributed to the plurality negative view on Israel in the latest survey.”
In November 2023, young voters already had a somewhat negative view of Israel, with only 26% of registered voters 18 to 35 years old holding a positive view of the nation and 37% holding a negative view of it. But the numbers have shifted sharply since then, NBC found: “Now, the new data shows almost two-thirds of these voters view Israel negatively, and 6 in 10 say they sympathize more with Palestinians over Israelis.”