Americans who get their news from social media are more likely to hold antisemitic views, according to a Monday Yale Youth Poll, which also found that younger voters are more likely to have anti-Jewish beliefs.
Presenting three antisemitic proposals, the first that American Jews were more loyal to Israel than the US; the second that American Jews had too much power in the country; and the third, that it was appropriate to boycott Jewish American businesses to protest the October 7 War, social media users tended to agree more with the sentiments.
Among users who got their news from these platforms, 41% of TikTok users, 39% of Instagram users, 38% of X/Twitter users, and 39% of Reddit users agreed with at least one of the three ideas.
Of the respondents, 31% of newspaper readers, 30% of cable television viewers, and 33% of broadcast television viewers agreed with at least one of the ideas. Social media users tended to believe more of the ideas, with 12% of TikTok users, 10% of Instagram users, 9% of X users, and 9% of Reddit news readers agreeing with all three ideas.
Only around 5% of respondents who used traditional media as their news source believed in all three ideas.
The online survey of 3,429 registered voters in March found that 10% and 11% of voters aged 18 to 22 and 23 to 29, respectively, agreed with all three ideas, and 38% and 41% believed in at least one idea. By contrast, 6% of voters aged 45 to 64 and 2% of voters over 65 believed in all three, and 26% and 25% respectively believed in at least one.
Male respondents were more likely than female respondents to hold these beliefs, with 8% of men and 5% of women believing in all three ideas; 30% of men and 27% of women believed in at least one idea.
Black voters were more likely than other demographics to believe in the antisemitic propositions, with 13% believing in all three and 46% believing in at least one.
Trump voters vs Harris voters
White voters were the least likely to believe in the antisemitic ideas, with 5% believing in all three and 29% in at least one of the ideas.
Voters who cast their ballots for US President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election were less likely than voters for former vice president Kamala Harris to hold these beliefs, with 5% of Trump voters agreeing with all three proposed sentiments and 32% agreeing with at least one.
Regarding Harris voters, 7% agreed with all three ideas, and 34% agreed with at least one.
Another phenomenon in politics indicated by the poll was that ideological extremists were most likely to view antisemitism as a serious problem in the United States.
The poll showed that 48% of extremely liberal and conservative respondents strongly agreed that Jew hatred was an issue in their country, with 75% and 71% of those groups agreeing that it is an issue.
This decreased to 34% and 29% among liberal and conservative respondents, respectively.
Regarding moderates, 21% strongly agreed that antisemitism was an issue, and 52% agreed with the sentiment to some degree.
Overall, the Yale poll found that 63% of voters agreed that antisemitism was an issue, though an age and demographic gap emerged, with 55% of voters aged 18 to 34 believing it a problem compared to 78% of those aged over 65. While 68% of white voters believed that antisemitism was a serious problem, 46% of Black, 54% of Asian, and 58% of Hispanic respondents believed antisemitism to be a problem.
Largely, most respondents did not believe in a series of antisemitic propositions presented to them, with 57% percent rejecting the idea that Jews were promoting nonwhite immigration to degrade white American power, and 9% agreed with the idea.
Of the people polled, 25% agreed that Jews had an extremely organized international community that put its interests above those of their home states, and 32% disagreed.
Only 6% agreed that the Holocaust was exaggerated or that the Jews were partially responsible for the genocide. While 17% of respondents said that Jews should move on from the Holocaust, 82% believed that public schools should teach about it in history class, and 47% believed that a similar event could happen to the Jews again.
While 58% of respondents said that Israel’s actions during the October 7 War did not affect their view of Jews, 16% said it did affect their perception of Jewish people.
The Gaza conflict also made 26% and 35% of respondents view the Israeli people and Israel, respectively, in a more negative light, while 43% of people said that the Gaza war didn’t affect their perception of Israelis, and 30% didn’t change their opinion of Israel due to the war.
Younger voters held more negative views of Israel, according to the poll, with 55% of 18 to 22-year-olds and 52% of 23 to 29-year-olds believing Israel should end its “slavish surrender to Israel,” compared to 35% overall.
While it was a popular sentiment that Israel was a democracy with a moral obligation to ensure humanitarian treatment of Palestinians, with 59% overall agreeing with the sentiment, and 52% and 55% of the two younger age ranges agreeing, large portions also saw Israel as an apartheid state.
Of all the respondents, 34% saw Israel as an apartheid state oppressing Palestinians, a sentiment shared by 55% and 54% of the two youngest age ranges.
Among Democrats, 52% agreed that Israel was an apartheid state, while 77% of extremely liberal voters and 58% of liberal voters further agreed.
The poll authors noted that Israel and the Palestinians ranked low as an issue, with only 28% selecting it as more important than other issues.