Harry Enten: Opposition to Israel has become a bipartisan consensus

Support for Israel, once a rare point of bipartisan agreement in American politics, has flipped into the opposite kind of consensus, according to CNN Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten.

Enten, who anchors CNN's regular deep dives into polling data, made the case in a July 24 segment that Israel's decline in American public opinion has moved well past its familiar framing as a rift within the Democratic Party.

"I think there are a lot of Republicans who will be able to run against these anti-Israeli Democrats once we hit the general election, because the general electorate feels very differently from the Democrat base," Enten said. "But the general electorate — look at these numbers on Israel."

"When we're talking about Israel's favorability in the United States, in general, there's some big changes. There are some absolutely huge, mammoth changes, generational changes that we're talking about," Enten said. "The general electorate has turned against Israel. This is not just the left issue. It is an American issue when it comes to opinions on Israel."

Enten cited several recent polls to make his case, all showing negative net favorability toward Israel: Ipsos, at minus 10 points; a Fox News poll, at minus 11 points; the Marquette University Law School Poll, at minus 20 points; and the Pew Research Center, at minus 23 points. He said Gallup's most recent polling this year was also negative.

"We're not just talking about the Democratic base anymore. We're talking about the general electorate as well," Enten said.

To illustrate the shift, Enten compared current numbers to Israel's standing at the same point in President Donald Trump's first term, when net favorability averaged plus 51 points.

"It's minus 16 points in the average poll now,” Enten said. “That is a 67-point shift against Israel in just eight years. Israel used to be a consensus issue in American politics, and that was a pro-Israeli position. Now the consensus has actually shifted, and now when it comes to the general electorate, it is a minus. Israel is now seen negatively, and we're seeing it in poll after poll after poll."

Enten pointed to a recent U.S. House vote as evidence the issue has moved beyond the party's base.

On July 15, the House voted on an amendment from Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., that would have eliminated $3.3 billion in annual U.S. military assistance to Israel. The amendment failed, with 98 Democrats joining Republicans to vote it down. But 103 Democrats voted for it, a record number of House Democrats supporting a cutoff of military aid to Israel.

"I never thought I'd see the day," Enten said, citing a poll on whether the U.S. should reduce or end its military assistance to Israel.

"Overall, 55% say they should reduce or end it, and it is true across the educational spectrum. Fifty-one percent of noncollege graduates, 62% of college graduates," Enten said.

"So this isn't just an issue among white liberals in Democratic primaries. This is true across the educational divide, even when we are looking toward the general electorate. The majority of Americans believe that military assistance to Israel should either be reduced or ended," Enten said.