Polling finds MAGA Youth Are Pro-Israel, Despite the Popularity of Some Anti-Israel Influencers on the Right
“These young people support Trump’s handling of America’s relationship with the Jewish state by a whopping 43-point margin”
There is a trend among some influencers on the right to oppose Israel, but that message is not being embraced by young MAGA folks.
The Washington Free Beacon reports:
The MAGA Youth Are Still Pro-Israel, Free Beacon-Echelon Insights Poll Shows
Young conservatives and Trump voters have a largely positive view of Israel and strongly approve of the way President Donald Trump is handling the U.S.-Israel relationship, a Washington Free Beacon poll found. That’s true even for those who tune in to or get their news from anti-Israel podcasters like Nick Fuentes, Tucker Carlson, and Candace Owens.
The poll, conducted in late August, surveyed over 1,000 young conservatives between the ages of 18 and 34. These young people support Trump’s handling of America’s relationship with the Jewish state by a whopping 43-point margin and a majority believe that the United States should support Israel as an ally. The president has been overwhelmingly supportive of Israel in its war against Hamas and continued to demand the release of Israeli hostages held by the terrorist group.
The polling comes at a time when anti-Israel influencers on the far right like Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and Nick Fuentes are drawing eyeballs and the notion that young conservatives are increasingly hostile to the Jewish state is gaining traction. A New York Times profile of Fuentes, for example, noted that “his anti-Israel, anti-immigrant, anti-transgender and anti-civil-rights views seem to have gained new currency during the second Trump administration.”
While young people may be tuning in to these edgy right-wing influencers, they aren’t necessarily being persuaded. Among media personalities like Carlson and Owens, who routinely lambaste Israel and its supporters in the United States, a majority of their audience nonetheless has a favorable view of the Jewish state—58 percent of Owens’s listeners and 54 percent of Carlson’s. Even those who tune into Fuentes, who has described Israel as “the anti-Christ” and accused the Jewish state of staging the Oct. 7 terrorist attack, support Israel by a one-point margin, 38 to 37 percent.
Of the 20 percent of young people who said they had heard the theory that Israel was responsible for the assassination of John F. Kennedy, for example, 49 percent dismissed it as definitely or probably untrue, while just 20 percent said it was definitely or probably true. That’s a theory that Owens has advanced on her podcast and Carlson has intimated, interviewing several guests who have suggested this is what transpired.
POLL:
Influencers like Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and Nick Fuentes may be popular among young conservatives, but their anti-Israel views aren’t, a Washington Free Beacon-Echelon Insights poll found.
Of the 1,000 young conservatives and Trump voters surveyed, an overwhelming… pic.twitter.com/lYX7sqpE0w
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) September 16, 2025
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Comments
The devil is in the details for all of these polls. I started reading the polling details which is always better than a summary of the results and here are some of the details showing that while the decline is a very small fraction of young Democrats it is very clearly there
[QPalConflictSide] In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which side do you support more?
[RANDOMIZE 1-2]
Israel 40%
The Palestinians 22%
Unsure 38%
(Myself again)
That is the by far worst Israel has ever done among Republicans of any demographic group. Don’t misunderstand it is better than among Democrats of the same age but do understand Israel failing to reach over 50% to groups of Republicans is a massive decline.
Back to details
For the 22%
“[QAntiIsraelOE] Why do you support the Palestinians? [OPEN END]
(n=223)
Palestinians are victims seeking peace 29%”
I could post the rest but it looks like for 22% of the next generation of Republicans…….are they getting it from Tucker or the New York Times? You could be the judge of that but he is clearly having an impact. The other reasons that he 22% gave for being on the Palestinian side is interchangeable with either Tucker Carlson, New York Times, Candace Owens or the BBC.
Going on
” [QColonizeContrast] Please indicate which statement you agree with more, even if neither
is perfect. [RANDOMIZE 1-2]
Israel is a country like any other doing its best to survive. 58%
Israel is a colonizer built on the suffering of others. 21%
Unsure 21%”
” [QTrumpApproveIsrael] Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is
handling the U.S.-Israel relationship? [RANDOMIZE SCALE 1-4, 4-1]
STRONGLY/SOMEWHAT APPROVE 65%
STRONGLY/SOMEWHAT DISAPPROVE 22%
Strongly approve 29%
Somewhat approve 36%
Somewhat disapprove 14%
Strongly disapprove 8%
Unsure 13%”
Roughly 22% of younger Republicans are anti-Israel, and appear to hate Trump being pro-Israel which is around the portion of people the poll found get their news from Tucker Carlson (27%) or Candace Owens (21%).
Sorry but going into the details of the poll there is an impact and it is a large one.
Another devil in the details
““It just feels to me like it’s a genocide [against the Palestinians] that’s happening while
we’re alive here in front of our eyes. I think we’re watching probably one of the sickest
things that’s ever happened.” [RANDOMIZE SCALE 1-4, 4-1]
(n=507)
STRONGLY/SOMEWHAT AGREE 52%
STRONGLY/SOMEWHAT DISAGREE 30%
Strongly agree 20%
Somewhat agree 32%
Somewhat disagree 16%
Strongly disagree 13%
Unsure 18%”
Ben Shapiro is where 29% get their news from according to this poll.
“. [QIsraelBelieve3] Please indicate whether you think this claim is true or not true.
DEFINITELY/PROBABLY TRUE 27%
DEFINITELY/PROBABLY NOT TRUE 40%
Definitely true 9%
Probably true 18%
I’m not sure 32%
Probably not true 20%
Definitely not true 21%”
That 27% is exactly the portion that claimed to get their news from Tucker Carlson so again his listeners actually are influenced.
“[QCampusProtests] College campuses have been at the center of protests and debates
about Israel. Which statement comes closer to your view? [RANDOMIZE 1-2]
Many anti-Israel campus protests cross the line into antisemitism and
harassment of Jewish students.
45%
Pro-Palestinian campus activists are exercising legitimate free speech that
should be protected.
28%
Unsure 27%”
Again the portion who claim to listen to the anti-Israel sources for news about Israel are around what the pro-campus protest side got
The positive for Israel is that not all Americans are Gen Z.
The bad news for Israel is that it Tucker, Candace, and other right wing anti-Semites have reduced support for Israel among Gen Z Republicans to the point where it is fair to say Gen Z is generation Palestine, at least right now. It could change, support for Israel wasn’t always universal for boomers but Gen Z is very anti-Israel, and it is due to coverage of the war.
Israel should take note and learn a very strong lesson about how long it should allow future wars to last, and if victory is worth the costs in the future because this poll is the closest to good news for Israel concerning Gen Z and is frankly not good news.
If you want to look over the details and confirm what I said about them they are right here
https://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Washington-Free-Beacon-Young-Conservatives-on-Israel-Topline-for-Release-3.pdf
There are some young conservatives who listen to Candace and Tucker and reject their views but 20% of young conservatives think Israel killed Kennedy (The Candace/Tucker view). They listen to people who make the claim and believe the claim.
There are also overt contradictions in the poll for example remember I showed you the genocide question?
Well here is the war in Gaza question
“12. [QHamasConflictSide] In the Israel-Hamas war, which side do you support more?
[RANDOMIZE 1-2]
Israel 53%
Hamas 8%
Unsure 39%”
So maybe younger Republicans are more maybe less pro-Israel than the poll says? However it is clear the Tuckers of the party have an impact, and that Israel has declined.
The decline is a fraction of what happened with young Democrats but it is there.
To add a follow up this does establish it is very important to have more Charlie Kirk like people.
Anti-semitism has been a stable of demagoguery for centuries because it stirs up endemic racial insecurities so well for vulnerable target groups. Bashing Jews is a way to connect with fearful people who crave simple explanations of why they feel so threatened, and this can be exploited to manipulate them in ways that bypass the safeguards provided by empathy. Transforming some people into demons makes it easier to mobilize hatred to replace critical thinking, and this creates opportunities to motivate reactionary behavior in other areas of advantage to the manipulators. Hitler knew this and was able to use it to amass influence and power.. Carlson and others of his ilk are just sticking with the playbook.