To mark the visit of US President Joe Biden to Israel, the Pew Research Center published a survey on American perceptions of Israel and found that the majority of younger Americans view Israel unfavorably.
Of course, while it is worrying to see that a large segment of the next generation of American leaders views Israel in a negative light, further analysis of this study will hopefully help temper some of the anxiety surrounding its conclusions.
In particular, we will examine whether the younger Americans have expressed similar views in other political surveys and how this survey compares with previous surveys on the American-Israeli relationship.
Through these analyses, we will find that the results of this Pew study are not unique to Israel — with younger Americans expressing similar critical sentiments about the United States and its allies — and that the relationship of younger Americans to Israel is more nuanced than is expressed by the results of this survey.
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Israel Is Not Alone: A Comparison of Views Expressed in Other Surveys
According to this latest Pew survey, 55 percent of Americans view Israel favorably, while 41% view it unfavorably. When broken down among age groups, the oldest age group (65+) views Israel the most favorably, at 69 percent, while the youngest age group (18-29) views Israel the least favorably at 41 percent.
While it might be concerning that the number of Millennials and Gen-Zs who view Israel favorably is lower than the national average, this is actually consistent with the results of similar political surveys that have been conducted over the past few years, which demonstrate younger Americans are more critical of the United States and its allies than all other age groups.
For instance, in a December 2021 Pew survey on how Americans view the United States, the national average was 23 percent of Americans that think the US “stands above all other countries in the world,” while 52 percent viewed the US as one of several great countries in the world and 23 percent thought other countries were better than the United States.
However, when broken down by age, the youngest age group viewed the US far more critically than the average American: just ten percent of this segment thought the US is greater than all other countries; 48% reported viewing the US as one of several great countries in the world, and 42% said other countries are better than the United States (a rise of 19 percent compared to the national average).
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Similarly, a June 2022 Gallup poll on American patriotism found that the degree of patriotism among younger Americans is much lower than it is among the other age groups while the number of young Americans who identify as non-patriotic is higher than the national average.
A disparity between the viewpoints of young Americans and the average American is also seen in surveys related to international relations.
In an April 2022 Pew survey on the American perception of Russia and NATO, younger Americans were less favorably disposed towards NATO than the average American. Furthermore, younger Americans were less likely to consider Russia as an enemy and were more likely to view Moscow as either an international competitor or partner.
Therefore, the finding that younger Americans view Israel less favorably than the average American seems to be in line with similar findings that, compared to the average American, younger Americans are more critical of the United States, its allies and its foreign interests.
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Comparison to Other Israel-Related Surveys
When comparing the results of this Pew survey with similar surveys about the way Americans view Israel, it becomes clear that the claim that a majority of young Americans perceive Israel negatively is not as worrisome as it initially seems to be.
A Gallup poll published in March 2022 came to a similar conclusion as this Pew survey, finding that only 40% of young Americans are sympathetic to Israel.
However, this poll also found that only 37% of young Americans are sympathetic to the Palestinians, while 23% held no preference for either side.
The findings indicate that while the majority of young Americans did not express sympathy for Israel, this does not mean that the vast majority are sympathetic to the Palestinians or anti-Israel. Rather, almost a quarter of young Americans hold no preference when it comes to sympathizing with either Israelis or Palestinians.
It is also useful to compare the results of this study to a May 2022 Pew survey that focused on American perceptions of both Israelis and Palestinians.
In this earlier survey, the results were broken down into separate views on the Israeli people and the Israeli government. For the youngest age group (18-29), a majority of 56% viewed the Israeli people favorably while a majority of 60% viewed the Israeli government unfavorably. The latter number correlates with the results found in the more-recent Pew survey.
Thus, it seems that while younger Americans have an overall negative view of the Israeli government, they are still predisposed to viewing the Israeli people in a positive light.
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Conclusion
When this Pew survey on American views of Israel was recently published, one of the most concerning results was the finding that the majority of younger Americans view Israel unfavorably.
However, it is clear that this finding is not as troubling as it initially appears.
These anti-Israel views are part of a larger trend among younger Americans who are critical of the United States. It demonstrates that this result has less to do with Israel itself and more to do with their broader political worldview.
Additionally, an examination of the data reveals apolitical views among young Americans, who favor either neither Israelis or Palestinians.
Finally, a fairly recent Pew survey found that, while viewing the Israeli government unfavorably, a majority of younger Americans still view the Jewish state in a positive light.
With the above-given context, it is now clear that while news outlets may go for eye-catching headlines about younger Americans viewing Israel unfavorably (see here and here), the actual reality is not so peculiar or dire.
Nevertheless, it still behooves pro-Israel voices in both the United States and Israel to appeal to the younger generation of Americans.
We have a duty to ensure that the next generation of American leaders will be just as educated and supportive of Israel as previous generations and that President Biden’s visit to the region will not be the last visit made by a staunchly pro-Israel president.
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