CNN Pollster: Israel is “a Four-Letter Word” in American Politics

CNN’s pollster aired an alarming report (for Israel and Aipac) documenting the free-fall in popularity they’ve experienced in the past four years (2022-2026).  There is no good news for them.  The numbers tell a dismal story.  Among them: declines in net favorability of 30-50% over that four year span: an off the charts decline for every age cohort and political party.  In every category, the 2026 favorability results are in the negative range.

These are results regarding Israel’s popularity (2022-2026):

1. Young Republicans: -45% shift
2. Moderate Republicans: -35%
3. Young males: -50%
4. Moderate Democrats: -58%
5. All adults: -46%

Aipac in free-fall among American Jews

In 2022, sympathies for Israel surpassed those for the Palestinians by 28%.  Today, sympathies for the Palestinians surpass those for Israel by 11%.  That represents a 50% change over the past four years.  This is the largest favorable result for the former in the history of polling.

Netanyahu’s favorability numbers dropped 35%.  As a result, Harry Enten, the CNN pollster said that “Israel has become a four-letter word in Democratic primaries.”

A March poll conducted by J Street found that 66% of American Jews opposed Aipac injecting money from Republican donors into Democratic primaries to defeat candidates critical of Israel (52% were strongly opposed).  Among Democrats it was 87% opposed. While among Republicans 89% favored.  This tells you that Republicans believe dumping cash into Democratic primaries to defeat liberal candidates weakens the Democrats.  This realization is beginning to take hold in the Party, though the leadership has unfortunately not heard the wake-up call.  In fact, they continue to snooze through a reality they prefer to ignore, at their peril.

Among young Jews, 40% said they were less likely to vote for any candidate who took Aipac money.  American Jews are repulsed by Israel’s campaign of slaughter throughout the region, from Gaza to Lebanon to Iran.  They are saying: this is not my Judaism.  They view Aipac as Israel’s accomplice.

Democrats should be alert to how pro-Israel Democratic candidates manipulate this problem to their advantage.  Rep. Daniel Goldman, Gov. Josh Shapiro, Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Sen. Cory Booker, and Sen. Scott Weiner all tell audiences with a big flourish that they do not take Aipac donations. That’s a half-truth which they fudge by not taking funds directly from Aipac or its PAC.

However, it maintains two other stealth PACs, United for a Democratic Majority, and the United Democracy Project.  The former alone plans to plow $100-million into 2026 primaries.  Additionally, donors affiliated with Aipac are donating directly to candidates.  All of these funding sources are directly and/or indirectly tied to Aipac.  In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Aipac itself has come up with this talking point for them. That’s why the claims of such candidates are disingenuous and must be called out.

A significant number of candidates are now publicly and vociferously denouncing Aipac and rejecting its contributions. Among them California governor candidate, Tom Steyer, Congressional candidate Brad Lander, Rep. Daniel Biss, Sen. Chris Murphy, and Rep. Ro Khanna. Most of the members of the Congressional “Squad” and Sen. Bernie Sanders have long forsworn its financial support.

The final takeaway is that both Israel and Aipac are radioactive in American politics.  While it’s understandable that the numbers would look very bad among Democrats who tend to be more criticial of Israel, those among Republicans are shockingly bad compared to past history.

The Democratic Party must change in response to this sea change.  How can its leadership continue protecting Aipac by stifling a DNC resolution demanding a ban on Aipac dark money in its primaries?  When will it wake up? When will it understand that you can’t run a pro-Israel presidential candidate and win. Kamala Harris proved this.  If they decide to nominate Josh Shapiro (who lobbied against the DNC Aipac resolution), or even put him up as a vice-presidential candidate, they will likely lose. Unless of course the Republicans offer an even worse candidate.

We should not (yet) be celebrating Aipac’s demise. We’re not there.  It has a strong base, billionaire donors, and has been around the block in American politics.  It has a well-organized, well-oiled machine.  But even machines break down over time if mechanics fail to maintain it.