A new AP-NORC survey has confirmed that American attitudes toward Israel have shifted markedly since the outbreak of the Gaza war, ending decades of largely bipartisan support and exposing a sharp partisan divide on the issue.

The poll, conducted between June 11 and 17 among 3,040 adults, including 1,022 Jewish respondents, points to a broader erosion of favourable views toward Israel even as sentiment toward Palestinians has remained comparatively stable.

According to the findings, about three in 10 Americans now believe Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, a claim that human rights groups have made and that both the Israeli and U.S. governments strongly reject. Roughly half of Democrats hold this view, compared with only about one in 10 Republicans.

Around half of respondents overall said they did not know enough to take a position either way.

The partisan split extends to broader questions of U.S. policy. A majority of Democrats now say Washington is too supportive of Israel and not supportive enough of Palestinians, a shift from just a couple of years ago. Republicans, by contrast, have moved in the opposite direction, with most now describing current U.S. support for Israel as about right.

Views among Jewish Americans, who lean heavily Democratic, mirror this same partisan pattern, though with notable internal splits between Jewish Democrats and Jewish Republicans.

The poll also captured how unpopular Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has become among the American public, with only about one in five adults viewing him favourably and nearly twice as many holding an unfavourable opinion. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, an outspoken critic of Israel, drew a more divided response, with roughly similar shares viewing him positively and negatively, and a large portion of respondents undecided.

Despite the depth of these shifts, pollsters noted that the Israel-Gaza conflict is not a top-of-mind issue for many Americans heading into the midterm elections, with cost-of-living concerns dominating public attention instead. The findings come nearly three years after Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel and amid a Gaza death toll that has climbed into the tens of thousands, developments that have reshaped how Americans, across party lines, view the decades-old U.S.-Israel relationship.

Photo Credit: PBS