Michael Doran on Israel and the American Right: Republicans remain staunchly pro-Israel, despite their social-media eccentrics

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Aug 8, 2025

Michael Doran, a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute and an expert in Middle East policy, discusses the intriguing dynamics of Republican support for Israel amidst changing public opinions. Despite declining overall support, Republicans’ backing for Israel remains strong and even grows, as seen in recent polls. Doran critiques the influence of social media voices, like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Tucker Carlson, which often contradict traditional pro-Israel sentiments. He examines the complex relationship between American identity and support for Israel, especially among evangelical Christians.

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INSIGHT

Mainstream GOP Support for Israel

The loudest right-wing online voices hostile to Israel do not represent the mainstream Republican voter base.
Republican voters remain largely pro-Israel and even increasingly supportive amid online noise.

INSIGHT

Multiple Forces Undermine US-Israel Ties

Left-wing forces in the US and Israel aim to undermine the Trump-Netanyahu alliance.
Right-wing online figures with significant platforms also push anti-Israel narratives.

INSIGHT

Populism vs. Globalist Foreign Policy

The populist America First movement views global commitments as elite-driven and harmful.
This worldview fuels skepticism toward US foreign alliances, including with Israel.

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On July 29, Gallup published a new poll showing American support for Israel’s military action in Gaza at a historic low. But a strong majority (71 percent) of Republicans say they approve of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, and that is up from 66 percent in September. Of Israel’s military action in Iran, 78 percent of Republicans approve. And 67 percent of Republicans have a favorable opinion of Israel’s prime minister. Even as the broader American public continues to cool on Israel, Republican support for Israel’s conduct of the war isn’t just holding steady—it’s actually strengthening. Earlier this week, the speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, visited Judea and Samaria, and had dinner with the prime minster in the biblical city of Shiloh.

Here’s what makes Gallup’s findings so remarkable: if you spent any time on right-wing social media over the past months, you’d expect to see Republican support for Israel cratering. But peer beneath the surface of the online discourse, and a more complicated picture emerges. Republican voters not only remain steadfast but are actually becoming more supportive, even as influential voices—influential especially with the young—are striking out in a very different direction. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, once a reliable Trump ally, now calls the Gaza war a genocide. Tucker Carlson’s social-media engagement spikes whenever he advances an anti-Israel narrative, hosts an anti-Israel guest, or moots anti-Israel conspiracy theories. Even some longtime pro-Israel voices from the right have made themselves unwitting tools of Hamas and Iranian propaganda.

Our guest this week is the Hudson Institute senior fellow Michael Doran, and our subject is Israel and the American right. Of course, the disjuncture between Republican voters and the most prominent and loudest voices in Republican media is not a new story. When you train your eyes on that fact, the entire Trump era, from his 2016 campaign forward, has seen the emergence of a new media elite whose views simply do not convey the attitudes of their base as well as the president himself does.

But of course the Trump era will end in a few years, and the contours and debate within the post-Trump right over attitudes toward Israel is being shaped right now.