The GOP is souring on Israel

Axios Axios —

Benjamin Netanyahu lost the Democrats.

Now a growing number of Republicans are souring on him and his country, too.

Why it matters: More Republicans, especially younger ones, turned on Israel as its military leveled Gaza — and then Netanyahu alienated President Trump and his team as they sought to end the Iran war.

  • For 15 years, Netanyahu offset collapsing Democratic support by cultivating Republicans.

    If Republican support is no longer guaranteed, he has a serious problem — and so does Israel.

The big picture: That problem starts at the highest level of the Republican Party.

The strains over the war came as high-profile "America First" anti-interventionists — led by Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly and Marjorie Taylor Greene — stoked the backlash against Israel.

Between the lines: Israel has become a new litmus test in the online right's war against the GOP establishment.

  • Nick Fuentes and his "https://www.axios.com/2025/09/15/groyper-charlie-kirk-nick-fuentes-tyler-robinson" target="_blank">Groyper" followers have spent years attacking mainstream conservatives for being too loyal to Israel — promoting antisemitic messages that once lived on the fringe but now echo through young conservative spaces.
  • Bigger platforms have carried versions of the same argument.

    Carlson and Candace Owens have sharply escalated anti-Israel rhetoric, often casting U.S. support for Israel as evidence that "America First" has been corrupted by foreign influence.

By the numbers: Cracks are forming in the Republican firewall on Israel:

  • An April Pew Research Center poll found that four in 10 Republicans have an unfavorable view of Israel.

    Fifty-seven percent of Republicans aged 18 to 49 felt that way, while one in four aged 50 or older had a negative view.

  • One in five Republicans say the U.S. is too supportive of Israel, per a Quinnipiac University https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3961" target="_blank">poll this month — three times the number after the Oct. 7 attacks three years ago.
  • Israel's destruction of Gaza after the Oct. 7 attacks caused younger Republicans to reevaluate their attitudes about Israel.

    A University of Maryland Critical Issues poll last year showed less than half of Republicans, 46%, thought Israel's military actions were justified under the right to self-defense.

    Just 22% of Republicans aged 18-34 backed Israel's actions.

  • "Something is absolutely brewing among young Republicans," the poll's director, government and politics professor https://gvpt.umd.edu/facultyprofile/telhami/shibley" target="_blank">Shibley Telhami, told Axios.

He said the war has accelerated young Republicans' drift away from Israel.

Only one in four Republicans had a more positive than negative view of the Iran war, a May UMD Critical Issues poll revealed, while one in three had a more negative than positive opinion.

Reality check: The GOP writ large overwhelmingly backs Israel.

  • A February Gallup https://news.gallup.com/poll/702440/israelis-no-longer-ahead-americans-middle-east-sympathies.aspx" target="_blank">poll showed 70% of Republicans sympathize more with Israelis than Palestinians. (Still, that was down 10 points from 2024.)
  • Faith & Freedom Coalition founder Ralph Reed said the leadership of the Republican Party and the evangelical community is as pro-Israel as he's seen in more than three decades in GOP politics.
  • But polling numbers on Israel across the U.S. electorate, including among Republicans, "are dangerously low," he said — a worrisome trend looking beyond the 2028 GOP presidential primary.

What we're watching: How much of Israel's lost standing is tied directly to Netanyahu — who's facing one of the toughest https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/21/world/middleeast/netanyahu-iran-deal-trump.html" target="_blank">election fights of his career this fall — as opposed to the country itself.

Axios' Zachary Basu contributed reporting.

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