The Shift: AIPAC is suddenly on the defensive | Mondoweiss |

The lobbying outfit has long known that it's unpopular among Democratic voters, which is why it never actually references Israel in the ads that it runs in Democratic primaries. It's why the Super PAC it uses in Democratic races is called the United Democracy Project (ADP), an innocuous sounding name that doesn't clue viewers in to AIPAC's actual motivations.

AIPAC didn't have much reason to be concerned about the right side of the aisle, but recent polling shows that younger Republicans are growing skeptical of Israel, like everyone else. The numbers indicate that the shift has been driven, in part, by the genocide in Gaza.

For instance, a March 2025 Pew Poll found that 50% of GOP voters under the age of 50 now express a negative view of Israel, compared to 35% in 2022.

The American Right's relationship with Israel is a subject that went mainstream in the wake of Charlie Kirk's murder, amid online debates about whether the conservative pundit was turning on the country and potentially facing backlash over it.

A number of "America First" conservative commentators have openly criticized the special relationship. Chief among them is Tucker Carlson, a popular voice that formerly parroted the usual neoconservative talking points.

Over the summer, a Carlson interview with Ted Cruz went viral because he repeatedly pressed the Texas Senator on the issue of Israel. One of the questions that flummoxed Cruz was, Why don't AIPAC lobbyists have to register as foreign agents?