When Vice President J.D. Vance spoke at a Turning Point USA event at the University of Mississippi two weeks ago, a young man in a red MAGA hat had a question for him: “I’m a Christian, man, and I’m just confused why there’s this notion that we might owe Israel something, or that they’re our greatest ally.”
He continued, “Or that we have to support this multi-billion dollar foreign aid package to Israel to cover this, to quote Charlie Kirk, ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Gaza.” (In his very last interview before his assassination in September, Kirk said to the Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro, “Ben, some people would want to accuse Israel of wanting to ethnically cleanse.”)
Vance sidestepped the young man’s question and instead promoted the administration’s Gaza peace plan and assured the audience that Israel was not “manipulating or controlling” the president.
The independent journalist Glenn Greenwald found Vance’s non-answer lacking and shared the clip, writing, “It’s pretty much 100% certain now that if a political or media figure goes to speak to young conservatives (including at Turning Point), they’re going to be questioned on why they give billions to Israel and so much more.”
“JD Vance needs a better answer,” Greenwald warned.
Greenwald’s certainty about what young conservatives might do manifested itself again last week, when Eric and Lara Trump appeared at a Turning Point USA event at the University of Alabama and were asked a similar question about Israel.
A young man said, “I’d like to ask about your father’s relationship with Israel. He's taken over $230 million from pro-Israel groups… During the summer against Iran, even though he advised against it, Israel still attacked Iran, and the U.S. still bombed on behalf of Israel.”
“Israel has not been a great ally to the U.S. all the way since 1960 when they bombed the USS Liberty,” he noted.
That line got a big cheer from the student audience. The USS Liberty event actually happened in 1967, but apparently it was something many in the audience, most of whom were probably born in the 21st century, were aware of.
The young man continued, “Israel is a nation where Christians are constantly under attacks in both Gaza and the West Bank. We talk about ‘America First’ and defending Christians but how can we do this if we align ourselves with a nation that does not do that itself?”
More applause. Eric Trump replied by defending his father’s policies and insisting that “Iran wanted to destroy our way of life.” Lara Trump noted that, thanks to the president, a peace process was underway, and that received applause.
The young man had a follow-up. “It’s just sad to see because I’ve never seen the American president get treated the way he does by the Israeli government.”
These kinds of questions will probably be asked again and again by young people in conservative settings, as Greenwald observed. A September 29 POLITICO headline read “An Entire Generation Is Turning on Israel,” noting that according to a Pew Research poll released in April, “More than half of American adults — 53 percent — now have an unfavorable opinion of Israel and only 32 percent have confidence in Netanyahu… Democrats are more likely than Republicans to express unfavorable opinions of Israel, 69 percent versus 37 percent, but Republicans’ negative views are steadily ticking upward.”
“That’s particularly true of younger Republicans,” POLITICO observed. “In the last three years, the share of Republicans under 50 years old who have negative views of Israel jumped from 35 percent to 50 percent.”
The Pew poll is no outlier. An August 2025 University of Maryland Critical Issues survey found that only 24 percent of Republican voters 18–34 sympathize more with Israelis than Palestinians. For Republicans 35 and older, that number jumps to 52 percent.
That’s a 28-point difference. Quite the age gap.
Trump has suffered a massive drop in approval with young Americans across the board. An Economist/YouGov poll taken in mid-October revealed that the president had gone from a plus-8 net approval rating in February to a minus-55 net approval rating in October.
That’s a 63-point swing, downward.