MAGA Antisemitism Fails with Conservative Christians
In the last couple of weeks, the Republican Party has been torn over questions of antisemitism and free speech after the MAGA influencer Tucker Carlson gave a friendly interview to Nick Fuentes, a Nazi sympathizer and an open antisemite. Senator Ted Cruz slammed Carlson vocally and warned about a growing antisemitic sentiment in the party.
A few weeks earlier, Senator Cruz and Mr. Carlson engaged in a debate on Carlson’s show over American support for Israel – a conversation that moved from politics into theology as their differing Christian views of Jews became evident. Senator Cruz defended the idea that Jews are God’s Chosen People. In response, Mr. Carlson argued that the current Israeli government cannot be considered the heir of these biblical promises. A dispute unfolded within the conservative camp between two approaches to Jewish-Christian relations – one rooted in the philosemitic theology of Christian Zionism and the other reflecting supersessionist currents on the Christian far right, arguing that the church replaced the Jews with Divine blessings. It is interesting to examine what conservative Christians think about Jews in general and to what extent they agree with Senator Cruz that Jews still enjoy Divine blessing today.
In March 2024, amidst the war in Gaza, Kirill Bumin and I conducted a nationally representative survey among American Christians, with more than 2,000 Roman Catholic, mainline, and evangelical Protestant respondents. The survey asked for opinions on the war, but also delved into theological questions of the role Jews have in the opinion of American Christians today.
When asked “what is your opinion of Jews”, about 65% of those identifying politically as “conservative” or “extremely conservative” describe their views as “very good,” while about 2% described it as “very poor.” The data shows that a low image of Jews is not in any way mainstream among politically conservative constituencies.
In the public debate between Senator Cruz and Mr. Carlson, Cruz cited the Abrahamic Covenant as one of his reasons for supporting Israel, while Carlson confronted this notion. The Hebrew Bible repeatedly mentions that God made an everlasting covenant with Abraham and his descendants, promising blessings and making commitments (for example, Genesis 12:1-3). The Covenant also includes blessings for Gentiles who would bless Israel, which Senator Cruz mentioned.
It is interesting to explore what self-identifying politically conservative Christians think about these theological and political issues. In the survey, we asked, “Do you believe God’s covenant with the Jewish people remains intact today?” 68% of politically “extremely conservative” and 61% of politically “conservative” Christian respondents agreed with this statement. Those who answered “No, the Covenant has ended” account for about 4-5% of this group.
We asked another question on the covenant: “Do you believe the Jewish people today have the right to the land of Israel by virtue of the covenant God made with Abraham?” The results were similar: 66% of politically “extremely conservative” respondents and 67% of “conservative” respondents agreed, while 8% of extremely conservative and 9% of conservative respondents opposed it. It is likely to assume that those who believe Jews still have a covenant with God also agree that Jews today have historical and biblical rights to the Land of Israel. This question examines the intersection of religion and politics, showing how biblical interpretation influences current political issues. The survey results clearly demonstrate that philosemitic ideas hold strong support among politically conservative Christians.
The results of the survey demonstrate that those identifying as conservative Christians strongly embrace Christian Zionism. The perception of Jews is very positive, as is the image of the state of Israel, which many believe has Divine blessings. The opposing voices within the MAGA world do not represent a large segment of politically conservative Christians, at less than 10%.
This data sends a clear warning to Republican leaders. While a small, loud faction of the MAGA base may tolerate or even embrace antisemitic figures and anti-Jewish opinions, the vast majority of the party’s supporters—the devout, conservative base—are not there.
This column was written with the assistance of Dr. Kirill Bumin, the Associate Dean of the Metropolitan College and the Director of the Summer Term at Boston University. Inbari and Bumin are the authors of the recently published Christian Zionism in the Twenty-First Century: American Evangelical Opinion on Israel.
