A majority of Jewish adults in the United States say they feel less safe than before Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, as separate polling shows that one in six young Democrats in the US have a sympathetic view of Hamas.
About 6 in 10 Jewish adults feel “less safe” as Jews in the US than before the 2023 attack, according to an AP-NORC poll. The figure rises to about 7 in 10 among religiously Jewish respondents.
Roughly 4 in 10 said they are “less likely” to wear, carry or display items identifying them as Jewish. About 3 in 10 said they or someone in their household experienced physical assault, verbal abuse, online harassment or property damage because of their Jewish background over the past year.
About 6 in 10 described prejudice against Jews as an “extremely” or “very” serious problem in the US. Jewish adults with strong emotional attachments to Israel were more likely to hold that view.
The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research surveyed 3,040 US adults from June 11-17, 2026, through NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel.
A separate Pew Research Center survey found declining views of Israel, while 13% of Americans aged 18-29 expressed a favorable opinion of Hamas.
This percentage was down from 18% last year and 14% in 2024. Favorable views of the terrorist group stood at 13% among Democrats and 6% among Republicans.
Among Democrats aged 18-29, one in six viewed Hamas favorably, compared with one in nine young Republicans. Support was highest among Muslims at 44%, up seven points from 2024, and lowest among Jews at 2% and white evangelical Protestants at 4%.
The share of Americans holding an unfavorable view of the Israeli people rose from 25% in 2022 to 42%, while favorable views fell from 67% to 52%. Unfavorable views of the Israeli government increased from 43% in 2022 to 62%.
Respondents under 30 favored Palestinians over Israelis, 58% to 32%. Among young Democrats, 72% were pro-Palestinian and 26% pro-Israeli.
The Pew survey questioned 12,574 US adults in May and had a margin of error of 1.3%.
