From: Shibley Telhami <sadatprogram@umd.edu>
Date: Fri, Sep 19, 2025
Dear colleagues and friends,
I am pleased to share with you three items.
The first is an analysis of data from our latest University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll which found that young Evangelical Christians and young Republicans are much less sympathetic with Israel than older ones: "While 52% of older Republicans say they are more sympathetic with Israelis than with Palestinians, only 24% of younger Republicans say the same - a 28-percentage point difference;" and "while 69% of older Evangelical Republicans say they sympathize more with Israelis, only 32% of younger ones say the same - a 37-percentage point difference." A similar gap exists among those who say Israeli actions in Gaza are justified.
One factor accounting for the differences is the extent to which different segments watch Fox News as their primary source of news. While 32% of older Republicans rely on Fox for news, only 12% of younger ones do. And those who watch Fox tend to be far more sympatric with Israel and far more likely to say Israeli actions in Gaza are justified: "Republicans who say Fox is their primary source of news are far more sympathetic with Israel, 72%, compared to only 35% of those whose primary source is the internet/social media and 37% of the rest."
It's also notable that "across the sample of all Americans, college education was not much of a factor in respondents' views of these two questions: While 22% of those with college education said Israel's actions in Gaza were justified, 23% of those with no college education said the same, and while 23% of those with college education said they sympathized more with Israelis, 22% of those without college education said the same."
You can find the link to the full analysis here and to the questionnaire here.
The second item is related to the ongoing session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and surprising polling data about American attitudes toward advocacy of human rights and the role of international organizations:
"The United Nations General Assembly convenes this year in the shadow of what may be the greatest challenge to the international rules-based order since its inception after the Second World War, partly due to the global stance of the Trump administration. Yet, surprisingly, a plurality of Americans, including pluralities of Democrats and Republicans, want the US to rely on international organizations such as the U.N. in advocating human rights globally - something that three quarters of Americans now support, according to our latest University of Maryland poll."
I conclude that "As the UNGA meets this month with perhaps the least friendly US administration ever toward the existing global order, it is notable that not only are Americans increasingly favoring defending human rights and working with international organizations to accomplish the task, but also that the typically large partisan gap is much narrower on these issues."
You can find detailed analysis with graphs here, and a shortened Brookings commentary can be found here.
Finally, here is a link to my commentary on the DSR Podcast on the Israeli strike against Hamas leaders in Qatar.
Sincerely,
Shibley Telhami