The majority of American Jews oppose the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC spending funds raised from Republican donors in Democratic primaries, according to a new survey released Tuesday.
The survey, which was conducted by GBAO Strategies on behalf of the liberal pro-Israel lobby J Street, comes as AIPAC has faced heightened scrutiny for pouring millions of dollars into Democratic primary races in New Jersey and Illinois in recent months with the aim of electing a majority pro-Israel Congress.
Candidates’ rejection of AIPAC support has become a litmus test for many Democrats, and a number of presumed 2028 presidential candidates have sworn off AIPAC, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
Last week, the Democratic National Committee rejected a vote on a resolution that would have condemned AIPAC specifically, instead advancing a resolution that condemned “dark money” more broadly in electoral politics.
In a statement on Monday, the Union For Reform Judaism criticized the negative focus on AIPAC, writing that it was “deeply concerned by efforts to single out AIPAC as a particularly malign influence in campaign finance.”
The organization joined others that have pegged the focus on AIPAC as antisemitic.
“Every candidate has the right to accept or reject funding from any PAC, including AIPAC’s, but the harsh language being used by some to denigrate and vilify AIPAC borders on - and in some instances crosses over into - antisemitism,” the URJ said, adding that it was “pleased” the DNC’s resolution failed.
The survey, which included interviews with 800 Jewish adults from March 23 to 25 and had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points, found that 66% of American Jews overall oppose the lobby spending money raised from Republican donors in Democratic primaries, while 34% support it.
Support for the spending was largely split along partisan lines, with 87% of Jewish Democrats opposing it and 89% of Republicans supporting it. (Among Jews aged 18 to 34, 74% said they opposed the spending.)
The survey also asked Democratic respondents whether an AIPAC endorsement of a candidate in a Democratic primary would make them more or less likely to support them.
Overall, 40% of Jewish Democrats said it would make them less likely to support the candidate, 47% said it would make no difference, and 13% said they would be more likely to support the candidate.
Among Democratic Jews aged 18 to 34, two-thirds said they are less likely to vote for a Democratic primary candidate endorsed by AIPAC.
Majority of US Jews unaware of pro-Israel lobbyists' role
The survey, released one week after another was conducted by the Mellman Group and commissioned by the Jewish Electorate Institute, found that a majority of American Jews have “not heard much” about the role that pro-Israel lobbying groups have played in this year’s early midterm primaries.
The poll, which surveyed 800 registered Jewish voters March 13-23, found that just 11% of American Jews had heard a “great deal” about “the role pro-Israel groups have played in the early 2026 primaries,” while 27% said they’d heard “some” about it.
Meanwhile, 62% said they’d either heard “not much,” “none at all,” or that they don’t know.
In a release that accompanied the survey, the groups suggested that, based on its results, outsized attention had been given to the involvement of pro-Israel groups like AIPAC.
“Despite the media coverage of the involvement of pro-Israel groups in the recent primaries, few Jews have been following this closely,” the release reads.
The survey found that AIPAC is viewed favorably by 39% of American Jews and unfavorably by 29%, with the rest being unsure. Among Jewish Democrats, opinion skews against AIPAC, with 37% having an unfavorable opinion and 29% favorable.
The poll also revealed a partisan split around pro-Israel groups’ tactics: 46% of Democrats agreed that “these heavy-handed efforts by pro-Israel groups in primary elections make things worse by turning voters against a strong US-Israel relationship, and they should stop.”
But another 28% of Democrats said that it is “more important than ever” for those groups to be taking action to elect pro-Israel candidates.
Overall, 39% of respondents said the efforts were “more important than ever,” while 37% said pro-Israel groups’ efforts make things worse.
The Jewish Electorate Institute survey also asked respondents their views on Israel and its government, with 86% saying they are “pro-Israel,” and 63% saying they identify as both pro-Israel and critical of the Israeli government’s policies.
The survey found that just one-third self-identify as Zionists, despite 55% having a “favorable view” of Zionism. That closely matches the findings of a survey conducted earlier this year by the Jewish Federations of North America.