Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the United States on April 7 for the second time since President Donald Trump took office.
As Americans look at the Middle East, fewer say the Israel-Hamas war is important to them personally – or important to U.S. national interests – than felt that way early last year, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.
In addition, the public’s views of Israel have turned more negative over the past three years. More than half of U.S. adults (53%) now express an unfavorable opinion of Israel, up from 42% in March 2022 – before the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. (Pew Research Center regularly asks about attitudes toward countries like Russia, the U.S., China and others. Refer to the “How we did this” box for more details.)
Americans’ confidence in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also remains relatively low (32%), according to the new survey. The survey was conducted March 24-30 – just before Netanyahu’s most recent visit – among a nationally representative sample of 3,605 U.S. adults.
In this analysis, we’ll look more closely at:
- How important Americans say the Israel-Hamas war is to them personally
- How important Americans say the Israel-Hamas war is to U.S. national interests
- Views of how Trump is handling relations with Israelis and Palestinians
- Views of Israel
- Views of Netanyahu
- Views of whether Israel and a Palestinian state can peacefully coexist
- Views of whether the U.S. should pursue taking control of the Gaza Strip
By Laura Silver
April 8, 2025
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