Younger Americans, those informed by social media more antisemitic — poll

Younger Americans, non-white voters and those who get their news from social media were more likely to hold antisemitic beliefs, according to a poll released this week.

The Yale Youth poll, a research group at the Ivy League university led by undergraduates, surveyed 3,429 registered voters last month, oversampling respondents below the age of 35.

The poll asked respondents three statements that were deemed antisemitic — that American Jews are more loyal to Israel than the US, that it was appropriate to boycott Jewish American businesses to protest the war in Gaza, and that American Jews have too much power.

Ten percent of respondents aged 18-34 agreed with all three statements, while for respondents over the age of 65, only 2% agreed.

The results were in line with other recent surveys that have found more hostility to Jews and Israel among younger Americans.

Non-white respondents were more likely to agree with at least one of the statements — 46% of black respondents, 39% of Asians, 37% of Hispanic voters, and 29% of white respondents.

Two-thirds of the respondents did not agree with any of the three antisemitic statements.

Respondents who get their news from social media were more likely to agree with at least one of the statements, led by TikTok, 41%, followed by Instagram and Reddit, 39%, and X, 38%.

Sixteen percent of those surveyed said that Israel’s actions in Gaza made them think more negatively of Jewish people.

The survey also asked respondents whether they agreed with a series of statements from both Israel’s supporters and its opponents on both ends of the political spectrum.

Nearly half of Democrats, 49%, agreed with a paraphrased statement from the white supremacist Nick Fuentes — that “America should end the slavish surrender to Israel, its wars, and its demands for foreign aid.” For Republicans, 22% agreed with the statement. The divide stood out because Fuentes is associated with the far right, but his statement had far more support on the left.

A majority of Democrats, 52%, agreed with US Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s statement that “Israel is an apartheid state, engaged in racist oppression against Palestinians,” compared to 17% of Republicans.

Both statements also had majority support among younger voters. For those aged 18-22, 55% agreed with the Fuentes statement, compared to 29% of those over 65.

Fifty-five percent of the youngest cohort agreed with Tlaib’s apartheid charge, compared to 30% of the older group.

A far smaller proportion agreed with a statement from US Rep. Ritchie Torres, a pro-Israel stalwart, saying that “Israel is a sanctuary for historically oppressed people, minority rights, and democracy.” For 18-22 year olds, 27% agreed with the statement, compared to 43% of those over 65.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict was a relatively low priority, with 28% ranking the conflict above another issue selected at random. Younger voters were more likely to prioritize the conflict, with 38% putting it above another issue.

The margin of error was 1.4 percentage points overall, and 2 percentage points for the youth sample.