Donald Slump
Week of June 5-11, 2026
Published in conjunction with The Nation magazine, TRACKING THE CRISIS is a weekly round-up from The Democracy Collaborative tracking the administrative, legislative, and other actions of the Trump Administration as well as the many forms of legal and movement response from across a broad range of social, political, and economic actors. TDC is providing this service for collective informational purposes, as a tool for understanding the times during a period of disorientingly rapid flux and change in the U.S. political economy. This round-up is produced by humans, not by Artificial Intelligence. TDC should not be understood as endorsing or otherwise any of the specific content of the information round-up.
TRUMP TRACKER: Administration actions
Ceasefire collapses: Israel hits Beirut, triggering Iran retaliation; United States conducts ‘massive’ strike on Iran in retaliation for ‘downed helicopter,’ Iran widens regional scope of conflict to Jordan. As the Iran war passed its 100th day mark, hostilities increased dramatically this week after several days of ‘tit-for-tat’ low-intensity strikes between Israel, Iran, and the United States, especially after Israel conducted a bombing raid on the Dahiyeh suburb of Beirut on Sunday, June 7 despite a new Israeli-Lebanon ceasefire declared on June 4 and U.S. assurances that it had instructed Israel not to attack the Lebanese capital. Iran has long maintained that an “end to war on all fronts,” including Lebanon, was a non-negotiable prerequisite for any deal it would agree to with the United States, declaring an ‘indivisible front’ across the Axis of Resistance. In recent weeks, Iran has shifted its deterrence doctrine to include ‘swift, severe retaliation’ to counter strikes from the United States or Israel, vowing to answer any U.S./Israeli aggression with a “decisive, painful response.”
To answer Sunday’s attack on Beirut, Iran launched a barrage of attacks overnight into Monday in its first direct attack on Israel since the April 8 ceasefire, damaging at least four houses in illegal settlements in the West Bank, and triggering air raid sirens sending residents to bomb shelters throughout central and northern Israel. The IRGC also claimed it had struck Israel’s Ramat David airbase, which was confirmed by the IDF on Wednesday. While Trump has tried to decouple Lebanon from current negotiations with Iran, analysts say that the Iranian attack was also intended to send a message that the fronts “cannot be disaggregated.” Missiles were also fired from Yemen early Monday as Houthi militants declared a ‘total ban’ on Israeli ships attempting to traverse the Red Sea. Israel responded Monday morning by launching attacks on Tehran as well as a petrochemical complex in the Mahshahr region of southern Iran. This was despite Trump saying hours earlier that he had asked Netanyahu not to retaliate in order to save the fragile peace negotiations he insisted were still on the table.
Analysts and human rights groups warned that the Israeli strikes appeared designed to sabotage talks to end the war, as Trump begged both sides to “stop shooting” on Monday. Iran and Israel both agreed to pause strikes on Monday as Trump insisted that they were in the “final throes” of a “very, very good deal.” As for the renewed Israeli-Lebanon ‘ceasefire,’ Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Monday that he would not meet with Netanyahu before an agreement is reached to end the war, vaguely echoing Hezbollah’s statement last week by saying “a military solution will never provide security for northern Israel.” In an interview with Axios, Trump said he warned Netanyahu that he “better be careful” or he would “be on his own very soon” if Israel continued to insist on violating the ceasefire.
Early on Tuesday, Israel continued to dispense with the U.S.-brokered ceasefire by issuing forced evacuation orders for the entire city of Tyre in southern Lebanon. Panic spread as thousands of residents, including those in the Christian quarter of the city that had not previously been targeted, rushed to evacuate the city ahead of Tuesday morning strikes on Tyre and across southern Lebanon that killed 14 and injured dozens of civilians, including paramedics. A U.N. official condemned Israel’s forced displacement process in Lebanon, calling into question whether Israel’s actions were in violation of international humanitarian law. Netanyahu directly addressed the Lebanese people on Wednesday, accusing ‘weak’ Hezbollah and Iran of dragging the nation into conflict and urging citizens to not let them ‘dictate their future’; Hezbollah MP Ibrahim Moussawi rejected the notion that Hezbollah undermines the state, saying that “resistance remains necessary when the government fails to protect its citizens” in the face of repeated Israeli violations of national sovereignty.
Later on Tuesday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Iran had shot down an Apache helicopter ‘patrolling’ the Strait of Hormuz the day before, and that the two pilots, who both survived the crash, had been recovered by marine drones. Iran denied that the attack on the helicopter was intentional, which U.S. officials have also not yet confirmed; several ex-U.S. military analysts expressed skepticism of Trump’s account of a direct drone strike from Iran, given that the pilots survived and the craft was recoverable. Retired Green Beret Lt. Col. Anthony Aguilar said given the reported damage, the helicopter was most likely downed either by accident or was struck by stray fire from a phalanx gun, either as friendly fire from a U.S. Navy ship or from Iran’s supposedly ‘destroyed’ naval force. Retired Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, who was a deputy director of CENTCOM during the Iraqi occupation in the early 2000s, opined to Al Jazeera that Trump had most likely grown impatient with negotiations and decided to ‘revert to force,’ perhaps inadvertently “revealing to the Iranians that he doesn’t have that patience [for diplomacy], and the Iranians are taking advantage of it.” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi commented on X that ‘foreign forces’ in Iranian territory ”are at constant risk on account of their own human errors, plain accidents, or potentially being caught in crossfire,” and said, “Leave our region if you want to be safe.”
Although he had downplayed the helicopter incident earlier in the day, according to the Wall Street Journal Trump reportedly changed his mind after meeting with Hegseth and Caine, vowing retaliation for the downed helicopter no matter the circumstance. The United States subsequently launched its largest wave of attacks on Iran since the ceasefire, described by CENTCOM as “self-defense strikes,” hitting a number of air defense and communications targets on Qeshm Island and the southern cities of Minab and Bandar Abbas, as well as water infrastructure in the Sirik region of Homozgan province critical for providing potable water to at least 20,000 civilian residents. Iran answered Wednesday by conducting strikes on U.S. military bases and facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait, and in a new expansion of the conflict, launched a long-range missile at a U.S. airbase in Jordan, reportedly destroying an F-35 fighter jet hangar. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said that the strikes “showed how Iran will respond to the enemy with strength and power.”
U.S. strikes continued into a second day Wednesday as Hegseth defended the escalation, tying it to the ongoing negotiations and echoing Trump’s impatience, saying that “if we need to negotiate with bombs, we’ll negotiate with bombs.” As Iran declared the ceasefire now “practically meaningless,” the IRGC launched fresh strikes against the Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and U.S. bases in Kuwait, claiming the destruction of several facilities, and announced that it had closed down the Strait of Hormuz entirely, warning that “no ship will pass” and that anyone attempting to cross the Strait will be targeted. As oil prices spiked over 5%, Trump escalated his rhetoric against Iran Wednesday, declaring through Fox News that “we are going to be attacking them very hard” and that “I may keep going,” saying that Iran “had the chance to make a deal and survive.” He also made the claim that the U.S. military had helped ‘sneak out’ 100 million barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz since the blockade began, which most expert analysts found dubious. Iranian media strongly denied another claim Trump made that he had received calls from Iranian officials begging him to stop bombing their country.
On Thursday, the IRGC claimed attacks on two oil tankers it said had “illegally” attempted to cross the Strait, while the United States fired on an oil tanker off the coast of Oman, killing three Indian nationals and prompting India to summon its U.S. ambassador and lodge a “strong protest” demanding that the United States cease attacks against commercial ships. Trump announced plans for another round of attacks for Thursday night, saying the U.S. will ‘bomb the hell’ out of Iran, aiming to seize Kharg Island as well as take ‘total control’ of Iran’s “oil and gas markets.” Iranian officials remained defiant in the face of Trump’s threats; while Iranian sources told Reuters Thursday morning that talks are continuing despite the flare-up of hostilities, aided by “relentless Qatari efforts” to save diplomacy, experts in Tehran say that “Trump’s reckless policy and his escalation against Iran has strengthened the belief…that it has to respond and not count on diplomacy,” because the U.S. policy is to “negotiate with bombs.”
Iran’s joint military command issued a statement telegraphing its plan for retaliatory escalation in response to Trump’s threatened attack, saying: “In light of recent U.S. threats against Iran’s oil infrastructure, it is declared that either oil and gas exports will be possible for everyone, or they will be possible for no one.” Less than half an hour later, Trump announced that he had cancelled the planned strike, claiming that discussions on a peace agreement were apparently ‘approved’ by the “highest level of Iranian leadership.” Oil prices fell by nearly $4 and flagging stock markets “leaped immediately” on the TACO trade upon his announcement. Iran’s Fars news agency reports as of this writing that Iran has not yet agreed to any deal or memorandum of understanding with the United States. The U.S. State Department said that ‘high-stakes’ diplomacy is currently in progress involving Rubio and Trump directly; observers note that this latest turnaround clarifies speculation that the strike threat was intended to ‘get some sort of concession’ from Iran, which has apparently proved unsuccessful. Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s national security commission, said Trump had “two paths” to peace: “either he must surrender, or he must surrender.”
Pentagon issues highest threat level warning regarding Israeli counterintelligence activities on U.S. officials, as a power struggle appears to develop between Trump and Netanyahu. This week, the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency issued a stark warning as it raised Israel’s counterintelligence threat to ‘critical,’ the highest level in its Force Protection Condition (FPCON) threat assessment system. According to reports, the Pentagon made the change in its assessment weeks ago, but only disclosed it to the public on June 6. Intelligence officials believe that Israel has intensified efforts to “collect information on internal U.S. deliberations involving Iran and conflicts in the Middle East” in recent weeks; one senior official described Israel’s recent spying efforts as ‘unhinged.’ The assessment named several senior Trump Administration officials as targets of Israeli espionage, including chief negotiator for Iran peace talks Steve Witkoff, Elbridge A. Colby, the Pentagon's top policy official, and Michael P. DiMino IV, a senior defence official. U.S. military personnel in Israel have reportedly found ‘communications-intercepting’ spyware secretly installed on their phones, prompting heightened concerns of espionage as Israeli attacks on Lebanon seemingly torpedoed U.S.-Iran peace talks as the two countries neared a workable deal.
The White House has officially dismissed the claims as ‘false’, and the Israeli embassy “categorically denied the country posed a threat of any kind and said Israel does not spy” on U.S. officials. Several current and former U.S. intelligence officials, however, told the New York Times the threat warning comes as no surprise as Israel is known to have been long engaged in ‘aggressive intelligence collection’ against allies and enemies. The Guardian mentioned that among the documents leaked by Edward Snowden in 2013 was a National Intelligence Estimate ranking Israel as the “third-most aggressive intelligence service against the United States.” When questioned by Fox News over his concerns about the matter, JD Vance admitted that while Israel and the United States have a lot of shared interests, “we also have some situations where our interests diverge.” He also reiterated that Trump’s main objectives in Iran were to secure a nuclear settlement and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, noting that Israel “may not like that, but fundamentally, we think this is in the best interest of the United States of America.”
The fraying dynamics between Trump and Netanyahu have publicly illustrated this divergence, as Trump’s profanity-laden outburst at Netanyahu over the phone last week and his posturing this week indicate an emerging power struggle over which leader or country really gets to ‘call the shots’ on the Iran war. Multiple observers have noted that the growing rift between Trump and Netanyahu may be rooted not in each other’s opinions or even approach to the Iran issue, but to each’s differing political priorities in their home countries. Trump’s mandate faces a major test this year in terms of the GOP’s performance in the midterm elections, where voters from both parties overwhelmingly oppose continuing war with Iran, while Netanyahu faces strong pressure within Israel to deal decisively with Hezbollah and follow through with longstanding Israeli ambitions to crush the Iranian regime.
Iran’s unexpected military and strategic resilience has stymied both of those aims, and now Netanyahu, running for re-election this year on the Likud ticket, finds himself in a political bind amid Israeli anxiety at not being directly involved in the peace negotiations and that the outcome may not perfectly align with Israel’s objectives. The personal distrust that has festered between the two personalities has also exacerbated the situation; Trump even insinuated on Tuesday that Netanyahu’s political clock is running out as he publicly questioned whether or not Netanyahu should even run for re-election. When asked about Netanyahu’s approach to Washington, JD Vance said Netanyahu had “certainly gotten some things wrong,” but averred that those conversations “are better left in private.”
The counterintelligence threat warning also comes as the U.S. House of Representatives takes up next year’s renewal of the National Defense Authorization Act, which this year contains a provision, Section 224, named the ‘United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative,’ that aims to permanently integrate U.S. and Israeli defense technologies, including AI and autonomous defense systems. The provision has garnered deep opposition from both the progressive left and the MAGA-aligned right; former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene came out forcefully against the provision, warning that “once Sec. 224 passes, it will be next to impossible to be undone.” An effort from progressive Rep. Ro Khanna to strip the provision from the bill in committee failed last week, but outgoing MAGA Rep. Thomas Massie has vowed to fight it on the House floor. Sen. Bernie Sanders has also spoken out against the provision, saying “the United States should not be funding the Israeli military.”
Although it looks like a fight may be gearing up over Section 224 in Congress, another far less noticed provision in the current draft of the NDAA is the ‘United States-Israel Intelligence Sharing Enhancement’, which was introduced by Sen. Tom Cotton and quietly folded into the Intelligence Authorization Act renewal for FY 2027. The provision would make it mandatory for the president, through the Director of National Intelligence and, as necessary, the Secretary of Defense, to “expand and enhance intelligence sharing with the Government of Israel” on a list of subjects that encompasses almost every topic of intelligence interest in the Middle East. Commentators on Responsible Statecraft note that the inclusion of the provision in the Intelligence Authorization Act appears to be strategic, as intelligence relations are even further removed from public scrutiny than defense spending; a seemingly successful strategy at present, as section 622 has received significantly less attention than section 224.
Trump says he ‘loves’ inflation as macroeconomic indicators signal deepening contraction in real wages for working Americans. The May jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, released last Friday, garnered early celebrations from the Trump Administration and the financial press over a ‘hot’ jobs growth number of 172,000 jobs added, roughly double what economists had expected. Most of the job growth occurred in the hospitality and restaurant industries, presumably anticipating a perhaps muted but significant World Cup tourism surge as the tournament begins this week. Trump’s early euphoria, however, turned to confusion as stocks crashed precipitously; worries over inflation, Fed rate hikes, the resumption of hostilities in Iran, and the now-unavoidably-evident AI bubble triggered a selloff that sent the Nasdaq plunging by its worst margin in over a year and erased over $1.4 trillion from the S&P 500.
What was missed amid the hubbub over the stock markets this week was the statistic within the BLS jobs report which indicated that real wages, the measure of consumer purchasing power, grew by just 3.4% over last year, continuing the gradual deceleration in real wage growth over the last two years. In better circumstances, the slowing but positive growth would not garner much concern; however, compared with the BLS’ Consumer Price Index report released on Wednesday, which indicated a sharp inflation surge of 4.2% in May, the biggest price increase in three years. The two numbers together indicate an intensifying squeeze on working U.S. households that is accelerating the affordability crisis that already dominated working people’s concerns even before the Iran war triggered a surge in the price of oil. Economist Justin Wolfers notes that relative to inflation, real wages have declined over the last six months.
In addition, statistics on job losses quickly dulled the luster of the relatively impressive job growth number; despite 172,000 jobs added, employers announced 97,006 job cuts in May, up 16% from the 83,387 job cuts recorded in April, the highest May total since the COVID pandemic-related contraction in 2020. Many of the jobs shed in California specifically indicated a contraction in education-related jobs, as layoffs hit workers across charter schools, private nonprofit school programs, and after-school services. Small businesses are also pulling back on hiring amid affordability concerns, as job openings and hiring plans fell to their lowest levels in six years. Self-employment numbers were also very weak; Dean Baker notes that over the last three months, incorporated self-employment is down by 1.0 percent from the year-ago, while unincorporated self-employment is down by 4.2 percent.
A new report from the Brookings Institution shows that as of 2024, nearly half (45.5%) of U.S. households reported not being able to afford basic necessities, and this week, nearly half of Americans say that they are worse off financially than one year ago. Bankruptcies have increased for the third consecutive year, mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures are rising, and housing affordability concerns are slowing new housing starts, which is dragging down key freight sectors for materials. Demand for ‘rent now, pay later’ loans have surged as households fail to meet rising costs of housing and skyrocketing electricity prices, and struggle with high credit card interest rates. Young people in particular are getting hit with the double whammy of the affordability crisis and a tough job market; many are finding “it’s never enough” to achieve financial independence as they enter adulthood.
The numbers clearly contrast with the messaging from the White House and Trump, who claimed that Americans are spending more because they are “optimistic.” When grilled by reporters about the concerning inflation numbers, which have surged for the third month straight driven by the Iran war oil shock, Trump said the latest inflation data was “great,” adding, “I love the inflation.”
MOVEMENT TRACKER
Trump booed by stadium crowd at Knicks championship game; White House ‘Freedom 250’ UFC fight slapped with lawsuit; World Cup ambitions fizzle amid affordability issues, boycott threats. Trump’s rising public unpopularity was highlighted at Madison Square Garden on Monday, when his appearance on the video screen alongside New York Knicks owner James Dolan during the National Anthem at Game 3 of the NBA finals was met with booing from the crowd. Trump’s security presence at the game caused major disruptions for both fans, who were urged to arrive two hours before the game and spent as much as an hour awaiting entry, and players, with Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox telling reporters, “I think the president being here just makes it inconvenient on everybody else.” Although the president has long positioned himself in proximity to sports and entertainment through close ties with figures like Dolan, Vince and Linda McMahon, and FIFA’s Gianni Infantino, his personal and political impositions into these realms have been met with growing pushback.
Preparations for the upcoming UFC fight planned for the White House’s south lawn this weekend, a concerted effort of $60 million and 7 governmental agencies as part of Trump’s “Freedom 250” celebration of the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, are facing possible disruption in the form of a lawsuit claiming that the event violates National Park Service prohibitions against sporting events on federal park lands. Other aspects of the event are floundering, with six of nine music acts pulling out of the Great American State Fair festival lineup shortly after it was announced last month. Officials from several states – Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts, Illinois, and North Carolina – told CNN this week that they declined invitations to participate in a showcase at the fairgrounds being built on the National Mall, citing costs and concerns about the partisan nature of the event. Even major MAGA figures are expressing disdain for the event, with Matt Walsh tweeting last week: “I’m actually pretty pissed at how badly they’ve bungled America 250. First they tried to invite Milli Vanilli and a bunch of other absurdly washed up geriatric one hit wonders. Then when that didn’t work they decided to convert the event into a Trump rally where Trump will talk about himself for 90 minutes.”
At the same time, Trump’s aspirations of World Cup-brought glory are falling short as dismal U.S. travel conditions, soaring ticket prices, and ongoing fears of ICE presence at the games cause furor amongst fans worldwide. Trump and Infantino’s close relationship has played out in the form of half-hearted attempts from Infantino to smooth over fallout as certain players, teams, and officials have faced harsh scrutiny from federal agents surrounding their entry into the United States, one of the hosts of the tournament; the FIFA head notably stated that those alarmed and dismayed by the U.S. denial of entry to a respected Somali referee need to “chill,” arguing that “we don’t live on the moon” and FIFA doesn’t have control over who countries allow to enter. It bears noting that the official in question, Omar Abdulkadir Artan, is a match official chosen by FIFA who was traveling under a diplomatic passport and duly issued visa, with no clear reasons given for his entry denial. Several other teams have faced extensive searches, hours-long interrogations, and denial of entry of staff as well, and the Iranian team must only be present in the United States for the duration of their games, with the requirement that they leave again for their training camp in Mexico the moment the final whistle blows. Although international public concern and threats of stadium labor strikes have prompted local and federal officials to issue reassurances that immigration enforcement activities will not take place during the games, border czar Tom Homan recently threatened to “surge” resources in New York ahead of the games in response to Governor Kathy Hochul’s signing anti-ICE legislation for the state late last month.
Despite the magic many fans find in the World Cup, calls for a boycott have echoed through the discourse since the United States was announced as a host, growing as Trump’s second term has progressed. A recent survey by SeatPick shows that young people are particularly inclined to skip the tournament, finding that among those aged 18 to 24, 39.2% of respondents would boycott, more than double the national average of 17%. LA Public Press interviewed fans and grassroots organizers about the boycotts, with one organizer stating, “even if ICE is not allowed in the stadiums, they will be harassing our people in the streets, trying to destroy lives, and Angelenos are not going to stand for that.” The impact of boycotts, prohibitive prices, and travel restrictions is reflected in ticket sales: the Financial Times reports that the opening matches in the United States and Canada were not sold out on the official platform as of Monday, and across the opening group phase of the tournament, the resale portal still had 176,000 unsold tickets.
Anti-draft protests in Israel disrupt business as usual. Riots have broken out across Israel as tensions rise around draft resistance amongst certain Orthodox sects. Eight people were arrested for breaking into a police station in Beit Shemesh after an alleged draft-dodger was arrested, as tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets nationally, blocking roads, trains, and detention center entrances and setting cars ablaze. Haredi men have historically been exempted from Israel’s mandatory draft service, in favor of seminary studies; this exemption was formally ended by a Supreme Court ruling two years ago, but many Haredi men still do not report for service. Resentment toward draft exemptees has grown amongst the Israeli public, as continued military action in Gaza and Lebanon has stretched Israeli forces thin and led to extensive reserve deployments. Protesters were met by clashes with both police and members of the public; two people, a 23-year-old Haredi protester and a 93-year-old, were killed in separate instances of being struck by vehicles at protest sites. Protests against recent arrests of draft-dodgers were predominated by two sentiments: fears that military service will be a secularizing influence on Haredi youth, and a broader rejection of the Zionist project and current Israeli military action. The issue has been a destabilizing one for Netanyahu’s governing coalition, as major ultra-Orthodox groups withdrew support from him last fall. Police have declared all protests illegal, while some protest groups have responded with defiance. The hardline Jerusalem faction stated, "The protests are not expected to stop – on the contrary, they are likely to intensify and expand." The “Committee to Save the World of Torah” said on Thursday that “The protest will continue and escalate until their full release and the regulation of the status of yeshiva students and Torah learners, as has been the case since the founding of the state.”
Newest Polls.
Approval Rating. After just over 500 days in office, Trump’s approval rating has hit a new historic low of just 35% over CNN’s ‘poll of polls’ average this week, placing him in company with George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, the only presidents in recent history to spend a sustained period of time in the lower 30% range. This week’s YouGov/Economist poll tracks Trump’s approval at net -25% since his inauguration, the lowest dip for a U.S. president since polling started in 2009. Rising costs of living and the Iran war remain key drivers for Trump’s decline, as his support has dropped considerably among ‘Republican leaners’ (-17%) and independents (-21%). CNN has tracked major events in Trump’s second term that led to significant declines in his approval rating, from DOGE to tariffs, deployment of the National Guard into U.S. cities, the Epstein files, the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, the start of the Iran war, and gas prices hitting $4 per gallon nationally.
Affordability. A new SSRS/CNN poll finds that 77% of Americans – including a majority of Republicans – say that Trump’s policies have increased the cost of living in their community. About two-thirds of Americans say that Trump policies have worsened economic conditions generally, and Trump’s approval rating on the economy stands at 30%, a new career low. According to the Center Square Voters’ Voice poll, 43% of voters listed inflation as their top concern, up from 37% in March. According to Nate Silver, Trump’s net approval rating on the economy dipped below -30% for the first time in late May. Nearly 60% of Americans believe that gas prices will worsen over the next year, compared with just 17% who think they will improve. In a Reuters survey released on Monday, 70% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy, where he is now polling worse than Biden when he left office in January 2025. The YouGov/Economist poll finds that 75% of Americans consider the nation’s financial health to be ‘poor’, with Trump’s net rating on inflation at a new low of -43%. A recent Marquette University poll finds that 78% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of inflation and the cost of living. Inflation and affordability remain the top issue for voters, with a high of 32% listing it as their top concern.
Israel. A new Pew Research poll released this week revealed that majorities – and in some cases, overwhelming majorities – of respondents in 36 countries around the world hold an unfavorable opinion of Israel. Across the 36 countries, a median of 67% have either a ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ unfavorable opinion of Israel, while only 25% have a ‘favorable’ view. The poll found that the most negative views were held among respondents in predominantly Muslim countries; among younger adults, especially in North America and Europe; and among those who identified themselves as being on the left. Among Muslim countries, negative views were led by Turkiye, where 99% of respondents held an unfavorable view, with 91% saying it was ‘very’ unfavorable. Elsewhere, “unfavorable” views in South Korea rose by 10 points — from 60% to 70% over the past year, the biggest increase for all countries that were surveyed. In Europe, Spain and Sweden led the pack with 78% of respondents saying their opinion was negative. They were followed closely by the Netherlands (76%), Italy (75%), Germany (73%), and Poland (70%). The only countries polled that held a plurality of ‘favorable’ opinions included India, Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria. In South Africa, whose historical apartheid state is often compared to the current situation in Gaza, 44% hold a ‘very’ unfavorable view of Israel.
60% of U.S. adults, according to a separate Pew survey, have an unfavorable view of Israel, an increase from 53% in 2025 and 42% in 2022. A Rasmussen Reports poll released this week found that only 34% of likely Democratic voters now sympathize more with Israelis than Palestinians, a massive shift from 59% in November 2023. Among Republicans, there is a sharp divide between MAGA and non-MAGA voters – around half of MAGA voters back Israel, while only 29% of non-MAGA voters feel the same way. Within Israel, voters are putting less faith in the U.S.-Israel relationship, with just 44% believing that Israel’s security is a concern for Trump, down from 60% at the start of the Iran war. 61% of Israelis do not want Netanyahu to run for reelection, with 61% of voters across the political spectrum supporting term limits for future prime ministers.
Iran War. A New York Times/Siena poll from the end of May shows that 64% of Americans across the political spectrum think that Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran was the wrong decision. The latest Ipsos poll on the war finds that a majority of Americans say the war has impacted American interests more negatively than positively, with fewer than one in six Americans believing that the U.S. is winning the war.
