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Ben Lazarus

Hope? How 18-24 US opinion may have shifted?

Author's analysis of HarvardHarris Poll

I have been following US public opinion of Israel throughout the war very carefully. It is important and relevant and this widely regarded poll produced each month, with the exception of November and December 2024, has asked a consistent question – In this conflict do you support more Israel or more Hamas?

The total has remained consistent – support for Israel has remained at approximately 80%…this has not really changed. Given the noise on the street this is an important barometer of the overwhelming pto-Israel voice of the often silent majority of Americans, a nation to whom I am grateful.

What has seemingly profoundly changed is the opinion of 18-24 year olds. Their view of Israel was 50% in December 2023 – i.e. equal support for Hamas and Israel incredibly. From this dark low, 13 months on it is 79%. The trend has been positive over this period but it appears to have jumped.

In the beginning of the war there was huge concern regarding the protests across the globe but especially at US Universities. We have seen the most terrible scenes across North America and it still continues, as recent scenes at Columbia showed.

As was reported as recently as November 2024: “Progress combatting antisemitism since then appears meager. A November survey of students on two dozen prominent campuses by the civil rights organization StopAntisemitism showed some of the results: 72 percent of Jewish students feel “unwelcome” now and 52 percent state that they personally had been victims of antisemitism.” (Discovery.org).

Perhaps this poll is an indicator that things are slowly changing? Maybe.

It is of course too soon to understand why this poll tracked the way it did – it could be a mistake – but perhaps for many many reasons including the US election, success of the IDF in the field in Lebanon, the fightback against the college protest movement or in fact the gradual maturing of the young population which has started to see Hamas and Iran for what they are, the population may be becoming more consistent with the general population.

Of course many questions remain and it is dangerous to think of letting our guard down for a minute as other polls may show lower support, still too many people support Hamas in my view, other countries show differing results and polls as we know are often far from conclusive but perhaps this is a cause for hope.

However, perhaps alongside the freeing of the hostages and the seemingly more positive  attitude of the new US administration, it is another potential sign for hope that our region is heading for a potentially brighter future.

We are far from there but I hope…

 

About the Author
I live in Yad Binyamin having made Aliyah 17 years ago from London. I have an amazing wife and kids including a son in Special Forces and two daughters, one soon to start uni and one in high school. A partner of a global consulting firm and a Parkinson's patient and advocate.
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