Antisemitic Attitudes in America 2024

Executive Summary

In the months since the October 7^th, 2023, terrorist attack in Israel, the global Jewish community has witnessed an increase in antisemitic activity, unprecedented in recent years. For many in and around Jewish communities, this period has felt inherently different, a sentiment that has raised several critical questions about the current scope, nature, and implications of antisemitism.

To explore this, the ADL Center for Antisemitism Research has collected data since October 7^th related to the scale and structure of the phenomenon of antisemitism in the United States and compared results to past findings.

This study of 4,143 Americans, fielded between January 5^th and January 18^th, 2024, (with a margin of error of approximately 1.5%) found the following trends:

Anti-Jewish trope beliefs continue to increase, and younger Americans are showing higher rates.

• From 2022 to 2024, the average number of anti-Jewish tropes endorsed by Americans increased from 4.18 to 4.31 out of 14. Using the original 11 statements comprising the ADL Index, agreement with 6 or more anti-Jewish tropes increased from 20% of the U.S. population in 2022 to just under 24% in 2024.
• In a reversal of past trends, younger Americans are more likely to endorse anti-Jewish tropes, with millennials agreeing with the greatest number of anti-Jewish tropes on average, at 5.4. They’re followed by Gen Z at 5, Gen X at 4.2, and Baby Boomers at 3.1.
• In addition to individual attitudes, more than 42% of Americans either have friends/family who dislike Jews (23.2%) or find it socially acceptable for a close family member to support Hamas (27.2%).

Conspiratorial thinking and social dominance orientation are key predictors of anti-Jewish belief.

• Belief in conspiracy theories continues to be one of the main correlates of antisemitic attitudes, with an overall average correlation of .378 with anti-Jewish trope belief. Respondents who fall in the upper quartile of conspiracy theory belief endorsed over twice as many anti-Jewish tropes, on average, as those with the least conspiracy theory belief.
• Anti-Jewish belief also correlates heavily with social dominance orientation – the belief that there should be higher status groups and that they should suppress lower status groups. For example, respondents who at least somewhat agreed with the statement that some groups of people are inferior to other groups were 3.6 times more likely to fall in the top quartile of anti-Jewish trope belief compared to those who did not.
• There was also a strong relationship with the belief that the problems in the world “come down to the oppressor vs the oppressed.” Those who at least somewhat agreed with this belief were 2.6 times more likely to fall in the top quartile of anti-Jewish trope belief compared to those who disagreed with the statement.

A significant percentage of Americans hold anti-Israel positions, but also support a Jewish state’s right to exist.

• Significant percentages of Americans hold certain anti-Israel positions, such as 20.1% who expressed support for removing Israeli products from a local grocery store and 30.4% who said supporters of Israel control the media. Younger Americans take these positions at significantly higher rates.
• However, support for an independent Jewish state remains high, with 88.8% saying Jews have the right to an independent country. This is true even among those who take other anti-Israel positions. For example, 83.8% of people who believe that Israelis intend to cause as much suffering to Palestinians as possible believe that there should be a Jewish state.
• October 7^th and the ensuing Israel-Hamas war has not resulted in major changes in the percentage of Americans who hold anti-Israel positions.
• However, in just about every anti-Israel position assessed, increased polarization appears evident. The proportion of respondents strongly agreeing or strongly disagreeing with Israel-related policies grew from the summer of 2023 to the present, whereas the proportion of those who somewhat agreed or somewhat disagreed shrank.

Individuals who held negative attitudes toward Israel-related policies, Israeli people, and Israel-oriented conspiracy theories were significantly more likely to believe anti-Jewish tropes.

• Respondents not comfortable buying products from Israel were 3.4 times more likely to be among the top quartile of believers in anti-Jewish tropes.
• Respondents who do not think Jews have the right to an independent country were 3.7 times more likely to be among the top quartile of believers in anti-Jewish tropes.
• Respondents who believe Israelis intend to cause as much suffering to Palestinians as possible were 4.6 times more likely to be among the most antisemitic Americans.
• Respondents who believe Israeli operatives are secretly manipulating US national policy through AIPAC or other influence tools were 7.5 times more likely to be among the top quartile of believers in anti-Jewish tropes.

Views of Hamas are also deeply concerning, with more than half of Gen Z expressing some degree of comfort being friends with a Hamas supporter.

Introduction

Since 1964, ADL has measured to what extent Americans believe certain antisemitic tropes through detailed quantitative surveys. To allow for comparisons across time, ADL has repeated a battery of questions from the original survey that was designed in partnership with researchers at the University of California Berkeley and the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago (NORC). These questions form an index used by ADL focused on gauging belief in particular historic anti-Jewish tropes or stereotypes, such as whether “Jews stick together more than other Americans,” “Jews have too much power in the business world” and “Jews have a lot of irritating faults.” Historically, ADL has used a simple majority figure (endorsing at least 6 out of 11 anti-Jewish statements in a bank referred to as the ADL Index) to classify a part of the population as holding antisemitic views. ADL has also added questions over the past several years, capturing more contemporary forms of antisemitism. Specifically, researchers have added numerous questions to better explore the dynamic between sentiments toward Jews and those toward Israel. Together, all of these questions are designed to paint a holistic portrait of antisemitic attitudes in America.

In this report, we provide results from our latest survey on antisemitism, a survey of 4,143 respondents, representative of the general US population, collected over a roughly two-week period in January 2024.

The first section of this report examines belief in anti-Jewish tropes, charting the trajectory in agreement with those tropes over time, and some of the key characteristics predictive of agreement.

The next three sections delve even more deeply into sentiments about Israel focusing on sentiments toward people (e.g., supporters of Israel), property (e.g., comfort with boycotts), policy and politics (e.g., voting for a pro-Israel candidate), and place (e.g., support for a Jewish state). This approach has allowed researchers to better understand the various connections and disconnects between anti-Jewish and anti-Israel beliefs.  

Anti-Jewish Tropes

Over the past two years, researchers have found increasing endorsement of anti-Jewish tropes among the American public.

Just under 24% of Americans endorsed 6 or more anti-Jewish tropes of the original 11 tested, up from 20% in 2022. The average number of anti-Jewish tropes endorsed by Americans increased from 4.18 to 4.31 out of 14.
 

The average number of anti-Jewish tropes believed by each generational cohort continues to reverse the trend seen in the latter half of the 20th century during which the older respondents were, the more likely they were to endorse anti-Jewish tropes.

Millennials agree with the greatest number of anti-Jewish tropes on average, at 5.4. They’re followed by Gen Z at 5, Gen X at 4.2, and Baby Boomers at 3.1.
 

Researchers also looked at to what extent Americans have friends or family members who dislike Jews. People without any friends/family that dislike Jews endorse the fewest tropes. Those with some family/friends that dislike Jews agree with a similar number of tropes as those with all family/friends who dislike Jews.

As we found in a 2023 report, a general disposition toward conspiracy theory belief was highly correlated with anti-Jewish trope endorsement. Further, as detailed in a joint 2023 CAR/CPOST study, not only was conspiratorial ideation highly correlated but that finding remained true regardless of political ideology. 

In this study, researchers found that conspiracy theory belief continues to be one of the main correlates of anti-Jewish beliefs, with those who fall in the upper quartile of conspiracy theories belief endorsing 3.8 more tropes, on average, than those with the least conspiracy theory belief.

Researchers also found that believers in a hierarchical nature of society believe more anti-Jewish tropes. Researchers investigated two different variants of this belief.

One version of the view of societal hierarchy is described as Social Dominance Orientation (SDO). SDO refers to the belief that – in society - there should be higher status groups and that they should suppress lower status groups.

To measure SDO, CAR researchers used four items that have previously been validated as effective measures, which included statements like, “an ideal society requires some groups to be on top and others to be on the bottom.”

The graph below represents the relationship between belief in anti-Jewish tropes and individuals’ average SDO score. People in the highest quartile of SDO endorse over twice as many anti-Jewish tropes as people in the lowest quartile.

The second method used to determine people’s beliefs about the hierarchical nature of society was by asking respondents how strongly they agreed with the statement, “When we think about the problems of the world, it comes down to the oppressor vs the oppressed.”

The graph below shows the relationship between people’s agreement with this statement and their belief in anti-Jewish tropes. As is evident, the stronger that people hold this worldview, the more anti-Jewish tropes they endorse. That said, 74% of Americans at least somewhat endorse this worldview. Indeed, most Americans are reluctant to place Jews into the “oppressor” category. In fact, when asked whether Jews were oppressors, oppressed, both, or neither, 13.2% selected oppressors, 37.6% selected oppressed, 34.1% selected neither oppressors nor oppressed, and 15.1% selected both oppressors and oppressed.

In sum, not only are respondents with higher conspiratorial beliefs more likely to endorse anti-Jewish tropes, but so are people who believe that high status groups should maintain a societal hierarchy by dominating and suppressing low status groups, as well as those who believe that societal problems come down to the oppressor vs the oppressed.

Perspectives on Israel-oriented Policies

Researchers also examined respondents’ opinions on a variety of issues related to Israel, including policies that come up for Americans. Researchers asked these questions in the summer of 2023 and repeated them in January 2024.

Most Americans oppose policies or behaviors considered anti-Israel, whether it’s boycotts of Israeli goods or excluding Zionists from social clubs. Researchers found a small decrease in support for some anti-Israel policies or behaviors since 10/7.

While the overall category of support has remained relatively stable since 10/7, there is evidence of increased polarization in opinions. For example, compared to July 2023, an additional 5.5% of respondents felt very comfortable buying products from Israel and an additional 3.4% strongly supported a social club’s decision to refuse Zionist members. Such polarization is further evidenced by fewer respondents expressing moderate comfort with, or opposition to, such policies.
 

Support for an independent Jewish state remains high. Indeed, 47.6% of Americans support the notion of a two-state solution to the conflict and an additional 8.5% of Americans support Israeli annexation of the West Bank and Gaza.  That is true even of those who take other anti-Israel positions. For example, 34.3% of those who are at least somewhat uncomfortable buying products from Israel favor a two-state solution. That said, and unsurprisingly, the more likely one is to hold anti-Israel policy positions, the more likely one is to oppose a two-state solution or annexation.

While a two-state solution remains the most popular selection across generations, younger Americans are significantly more likely to see the “termination of the state of Israel” as a viable alternative.
 

Researchers found that those who took a more anti-Israel stance on policy-related questions tended to endorse more antisemitic tropes than those who took a more pro-Israel stance. Opponents of US military aid to Israel supported an average of 5.4 tropes compared to 3.7 endorsed by supporters, and those who supported removing Israeli goods from local stores and indicated discomfort with buying Israeli goods endorsed an average of 6.1 and 6.2 tropes, respectively.
 

Perspectives on Israel, Israelis and Hamas During the War

Researchers probed a range of sentiments and perspectives that have emerged more saliently among Americans during the Israel and Hamas war. Researchers specifically tried to disentangle people’s views of Israel as a state, views of Israelis as people, and views of Jews generally.

To assess sentiments toward the state of Israel, researchers asked questions related to policy such as support or opposition for boycott, divestment and sanctions, or how likely a respondent would be to vote for an anti/pro-Israel politician.

Roughly one-third of respondents somewhat agreed that they would not consider voting for a pro-Israel politician, while a fifth (21.1%) said they would not feel comfortable buying products from Israel. However, these sentiments did not translate to opposition to a Jewish state, with an overwhelming majority of respondents (88.8%) at least somewhat disagreeing with the statement that Jews do not have the right to an independent country.

Researchers found that such sentiments were correlated with an increased belief in anti-Jewish tropes, but in ways that were more mixed and, in some cases, not as substantially as views of Israelis. Of the statements shown above, discomfort with voting for a pro-Israel politician was the most weakly correlated with endorsement of anti-Jewish tropes (r = 0.3), with those agreeing with the statement endorsing an average of 5.7 tropes compared to 3.6 for those who disagreed. Discomfort with buying Israeli goods was only slightly more correlated with anti-Jewish beliefs (r = 0.33), with those expressing agreement with the anti-Israel statement endorsing an average of 6.2 tropes versus an average of 3.7 for those disagreeing. Unsurprisingly, lack of support for the right of Jews to an independent country was associated with more anti-Jewish trope endorsement, with those saying that Jews do not have this right endorsing 6.9 tropes compared to 4 for those who thought they do.

To capture the extent to which respondents view Israelis themselves as malicious actors, researchers asked respondents to indicate their level of agreement or disagreement with statements about 1) Israelis’ intent to cause as much suffering to Palestinians as possible, 2) Israelis being indifferent to Palestinian suffering, and 3) Israelis desire to live in a world in which all Palestinians are killed.
 

Researchers found relatively high agreement with the statement about Israeli intent to cause suffering (43.5% at least somewhat agreed), Israeli indifference to Palestinian suffering (42.2%), and Israeli desire to live in a world where all Palestinians are killed (35.9%).

Researchers found that those who assign more malice to Israelis believe more anti-Jewish tropes. The statement about Israelis wanting to live in a world where all Palestinians are killed is the most strongly related to antisemitic trope endorsement (r = 0.42), with those who agree endorsing an average of 6.3 tropes versus an average of 3.2 for those who disagree. Both the statements about Israeli intent to cause suffering and indifference to suffering are also moderately correlated with antisemitic beliefs (r = 0.38 and r=0.33, respectively), with those agreeing with each endorsing an average of 5.9 and 5.7 tropes versus the 3.1 and 3.3 endorsed by those disagreeing, respectively.

CAR research has consistently demonstrated the conspiratorial foundations of antisemitic belief. To understand whether anti-Israel sentiment is also related to conspiratorial mindsets, researchers asked two questions. The first, also asked in the summer of 2023, asked respondents whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement that supporters of Israel control the media. The second, a new question not previously used in CAR surveys, asked respondents their level of (dis)agreement with the statement that “Israeli operatives are secretly manipulating US national policy through AIPAC or other influence tools.”

A third (33%) of respondents at least somewhat agree with the statement that Israeli operatives are manipulating US national policy, and slightly less (30.4%) at least somewhat agree with Israel control of the media. This is down slightly from agreement with the question when it was asked in the summer of 2023, when 32.9% of respondents agreed with the same question.
 

As measured by these questions, conspiracy-based anti-Israel sentiment is strongly correlated with antisemitic belief: the correlations between the questions about secret manipulation of US policy and Israel’s control of the media are 0.49 and 0.45, respectively. The average number of tropes endorsed by those who at least somewhat agree with Israel’s secret manipulation of US policy is 6.8, compared to a mean of 3.1 tropes for those who disagree. Those who agree that Israel supporters control the media endorsed, on average, 6.7 tropes versus the 3.3 endorsed by those who disagreed.

When we look at all these factors, we can see which anti-Israel positions and views are more strongly correlated with believing in anti-Jewish tropes than others.
 

Finally, researchers examined the extent to which respondents were comfortable reporting being friends with a supporter of Hamas. Younger Americans were far more likely to feel comfortable being friends with a supporter of Hamas. Indeed, more than half of Gen Z, 51.3%, were at least somewhat comfortable being friends with a supporter of Hamas.
 

Conclusion

Researchers found an increasingly concerning state of antisemitism in America. Anti-Jewish and anti-Israel positions are high. The more likely one is to hold a negative sentiment toward Israel, the more likely they are to believe anti-Jewish tropes. Social networks and social norms increasingly point toward a growing acceptance of antisemitism. Researchers also found little change in Israel sentiment since October 7^th, and there is overwhelming support for an independent Jewish state. 

Methodological Appendix

This study was conducted over a roughly two-week period in January 2024 on a nationally representative sample of American respondents. The survey was fielded via Qualtrics, a leading electronic survey platform with a wide-ranging panel of respondents across demographic categories. A quota sampling strategy was applied, with respondents selected to ensure accurate representation across the key characteristics of gender, age, race, geographic region, ethnicity, household income, and education. A slight oversample of younger respondents (aged 18-26) was employed to maximize insights from this key generational cohort.

The final sample yielded 4,143 respondents, representative of the general US population. Where there were any meaningful deviations from established sampling quotas, ADL researchers applied poststratification weights to adjust for age, race, education, and political party affiliation.

Donor Recognition

The work of the ADL Center for Antisemitism Research is made possible by the generous support of: