Israel Image Sinks in 36-Country Pew Poll
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- Pew Research Center surveyed over 44,000 respondents across 36 countries and found a median 67% hold unfavorable views of Israel vs. 25% favorable, with negative views concentrated in Muslim-majority countries, among younger adults, and on the political left.
- Turkey (99%), Pakistan (95%), Malaysia (89%), Indonesia (86%), and the West Bank/East Jerusalem (85%) posted the highest unfavorable ratings, with roughly 80% or more in each labeling their views "very unfavorable."
- In Europe, every country surveyed had unfavorable majorities: Spain and Sweden tied at 78%, followed by the Netherlands (76%), Italy (75%), Germany (73%), and Poland (70%) — and even Hungary at 54% despite its once-close Netanyahu ties under recently ousted PM Viktor Orbán.
- India was the only Asian country where favorable views (32%) outpaced unfavorable (28%); South Korea's unfavorable rating jumped 10 points to 70%, the largest year-over-year shift among countries surveyed in both 2025 and 2026.
- Argentina — whose President Javier Milei has called himself "the most Zionist president in the world" and visited Israel three times since 2023 — saw unfavorable views climb 9 points to 55%, with 34% describing them as "very unfavorable."
- Sub-Saharan Africa was the only region where pluralities held favorable views — Kenya 50%, Ghana 49%, Nigeria 47% — though Nigeria's unfavorable rating spiked from 32% to 41% year-over-year.
- U.S. respondents (polled separately in late March) showed 60% unfavorable, up from 53% in 2025 and 42% in 2022, with majorities under 50 in both parties — though more heavily among Democrats and Independents — viewing Israel negatively.
Why it matters: Israel's diplomatic coalition is eroding not just in adversary states but in once-friendly ones: Argentina's unfavorable rating climbed 9 points, South Korea's jumped 10 points, and the U.S. share unfavorable rose from 42% to 60% in four years. With unfavorable majorities now appearing in every European country surveyed and even in Orbán-era Hungary, the bipartisan political space supporting Israel is narrowing at a moment when the government is waging active multi-front military operations.
