The numbers aren’t adding up.
Are young people more likely to support Palestine than Israel in the current conflict? If you’ve been watching the news or following coverage online, then you likely believe the answer is an unequivocal yes. From the nonstop media coverage of college campus protests to the constant speculation regarding what the kids are talking about on TikTok to the bevy of think pieces that seek to investigate “why Gen Z is so pro-Palestine and anti-Israel,” you’d be forgiven for thinking the results are conclusive.
But they’re not. In fact, from the small amount of actual data we have on Gen Z political sentiment right now, it’s apparent that these young people — between ages 11 and 26, roughly — are nowhere near as unified on this conflict as we’re portraying them. It’s also worth noting that topics related to Hamas, Gaza, and Palestine are not one in the same, and yet they seem to often be treated as such in these conversations.
So how does Gen Z actually feel about Israel and Palestine, and why do we seem to have so much trouble understanding this generation?
What Gen Z polling sentiment really tells us
When you want to understand how a certain cohort feels about a given topic, one of the most accurate (if imperfect) approaches is the most obvious one: you ask them. Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done — and it can take a long time to obtain accurate, well-sampled polling information from a large population.
For now, in terms of relevant polling on Gen Z’s Israel/Palestine sentiments, there are three relevant studies. All of them offer an extremely different insight into Gen Z politics than the one we see right now in the “Why is Gen Z so pro-Palestinian?” discourse.
One such Economist/YouGov poll conducted earlier this month surveyed 1,500 adult Americans and included questions related to the conflict. The poll grouped young people into a single under-30 category, which of course covers both Gen Z and millennials. The findings suggest that this group showed less concern about antisemitism than older adults. While the majority of all respondents agree that hate crimes against Jewish people are a “very serious” problem in the U.S. (on a scale of “not a problem” to “very serious”), compared to adults 65 and older, those under 30 were less likely to view hate crimes against Jewish people as a “very serious” problem in the U.S. (under 30 age group: 31 percent agree; 65+ group: 46 percent agree). They are also more likely to agree with the argument that the Holocaust is a “myth” (younger age group: 20 percent agree; older age group: 0 percent).
The findings also suggested that this Gen Z/millennial group is more likely to agree with anti-Israel statements than older generations, but not to the point that their opinions tipped over into majority consensus. For example, younger generations are more likely to agree with the statement that “Israel is an apartheid state” (18-29 age group: 32 percent agree; 45-64 age group: 14 percent agree), and the claim that “Israel is deliberately trying to wipe out the Palestinian population” (18-29 age group: 40 percent agree; 45-64 age group: 21 percent agree). Again, these percentages do not reflect the majority opinion for either age group but do show that a larger cohort of younger people agreed with those statements than the older age group.
Keep in mind that the study didn’t provide a specific breakdown of the ratio of Gen Zers and millennials who comprised the age group.
Another poll, conducted by NBC News, similarly grouped all “young people” into the 18-34 age group (and didn’t reveal how many people were surveyed). In the poll, 41 percent of that age group agreed with the statement that “Israel had gone too far and that its response wasn’t justified,” while 31 percent said Israel was justified in its actions. In this same poll, 26 percent of 18-34 participants had a positive view of Israel, and 37 percent of participants had a negative one. These numbers do reflect more dissatisfaction with Israel’s actions than satisfaction, but they hardly paint a picture of consensus agreement among an entire generation.
The third and final poll, conducted this fall by Harvard CAPS-Harris, did offer an age group survey of Gen Z exclusively, by segmenting out adults 18-24. This poll is the only one widely circulated that offers any sort of specific generational insight. Interestingly, the findings of that poll reflected a 50-50 split between Gen Z-ers who “stood with Israel” and those who “stood with Hamas.” Other questions in the poll revealed a series of contradictory beliefs and ideologies. For example, 70 percent of Gen Z participants agreed with the statement that “Israel is trying to avoid civilian casualties in the war against Hamas.” (Notably, a lower percentage of millennials agreed with this statement, at 65 percent.) On the other hand, 60 percent of Gen Z participants went on to agree with the notion that Israel is attempting genocide in Gaza. Lastly, and perhaps most strikingly, 51 percent of Gen Z participants were in favor of a “one-state solution” on behalf of Palestine, in which “Israel was ended and given to Hamas and the Palestinians.”
These studies are the only direct evidence we have so far of Gen Z sentiment — and while all of them are worthy of focus and consideration, they hardly reflect the unilateral, pro-Palestinian perception of Gen Z that’s floating through many media channels right now. This shouldn’t be surprising. It’s virtually unheard of for any age group to have any sort of unified belief about anything. The only reason these numbers are notable is in the context of the media treatment we have given to Gen Z, painting them as a near-exclusive force of pro-Palestinian sentiment.
What gives? What’s causing this disconnect in perception?
We’re conflating global TikTok engagement with American Gen Z sentiment
One reason why it feels like Gen Z is so outspoken in support of Palestine has to do with social media channels. TikTok, for example, has turned into the bonafide hub for conversation, confrontation, and amplification on both sides of this conflict — and its users skew young. Of the estimated 80 million active TikTok users in this country, a whopping 60 percent of them are 16-24 years old. So if it feels like Gen Z opinions are everywhere on that platform, that’s because they sort of are.
But how do we explain the majority pro-Palestinian sentiment on TikTok, if Gen Z Americans aren’t actually oriented in that direction? It’s a simple answer: This TikTok engagement reflects global, not national sentiment.
TikTok is a massive international social network, owned by a foreign country, with more than one billion active users — and the vast majority of the world’s nations have (and have historically always had) a more supportive perception of Palestine than the United States does. This is especially true for countries in the Middle East. Per Axios, the #IStandWithPalestine hashtag is the most popular in Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Bahrain, and Qatar.
So it’s not just American Gen Z kids pushing this engagement online; it’s young adults from all over the world. Moreover, it’s not necessarily that Gen Zers in these countries are showing a sudden shift of opinion — it’s just that we’ve never had direct access to (and interest in) their opinions until now.
When we use TikTok trends as a way to understand Gen Z Americans, we might be mistaking global youth sentiment for exclusively American youth sentiment. As for the claim that TikTok is boosting pro-Palestinian sentiment, or that TikTok is the primary place where young people are sharing pro-Palestinian sentiment, that’s not true, either. A recent study by Echelon Insights showed that “Twitter and Instagram use strongly correlated with support for Palestine as well.” (This study, like nearly all the studies, combined generational groups by polling users 40 and under.)
Do college campus protests accurately reflect Gen Z sentiment?
Besides TikTok, the other major source of “evidence” regarding Gen Z sentiment has been the widespread coverage of protests on college campuses. But like TikTok, the existence of protests on college campuses isn’t a one-to-one representation of Gen Z sentiment overall.
For as long as they’ve existed, college campuses have always served as hotbeds of the antiwar movement in America. From the extremely widespread Vietnam War protests, to the Civil Rights-focused Greensboro sit-ins, to the student marches against gun violence that we’ve seen in recent years, there’s a long and consistent history of youth political movements that incubate at colleges and universities. The anti-war student protests we’re seeing are hardly a new event.
It’s worth noting that campus protests don’t reflect the totality of the American student body’s beliefs. It’s also worth noting that, like TikTok engagement, the sheer visibility of a loud student protest can give the feeling of unilateral opinions among young people. But the data we have right now just doesn’t back that up.
