Democratic Voters Are Done With Lies.

This essay appeared in the Aug. 27, 2026 edition of UNFTR’s premium newsletter. Become a UNFTR member to receive our bonus newsletter each week and for other perks.

If you think the Democratic establishment is down bad now following humiliating primary losses this summer, just wait for the presidential primary.

Democratic voters from the first half-dozen presidential nominating states in 2028 are primed to deal a seismic blow to the corporate wing of the party based on new polling gauging the electorate’s attitude toward Israel.

The sentiment expressed in the survey conducted by YouGov, on behalf of the IMEU Policy Project, overwhelmingly suggests Democratic voters in South Carolina, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Michigan and Virginia are at their wits end with U.S. support for Israel.

In all but one state (South Carolina), a majority of Democratic primary voters say reducing support for Israel will influence how they vote.

But that’s not even the worst of it for the establishment, which just this week signaled their disdain toward the base by empowering three staunchly pro-Israel Dems amid new Congressional committee assignments.

Among the other highlights from the survey:

• The majority of respondents across the first six nominating states believe Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians—a significant finding given the corporate media’s reluctance to use the “G” word in published reports.
• In another clear sign that support for Israel has completely collapsed, a noteworthy plurality of respondents across the half-dozen states said they’d prefer a presidential candidate willing to cut off aid to the state that has killed thousands of women and children and razed much of Gaza.
• Most of these voters also want the United States to sanction Israel, a prospect once thought unimaginable in Democratic Party politics.

Of potentially greater significance is what the poll doesn’t tell us: How people feel about the many related issues that impact everyday Americans when it comes to Israel, such as Trump’s Israel-instigated war of choice with Iran (a strategic military and political failure) and the war on free speech against those critical of Israel. The latter is a hallmark of the years-long campaign to quash anti-Israel dissent, though the genocide in Gaza has underscored the lengths to which the state will go to protect the country’s tattered reputation. As it turns out, Gaza was the greatest stress test for the pro-Israel and anti-free speech propaganda campaign, and the public, as polls over the last few years suggest, sees right through it, even if the media continues to obfuscate.

Indeed, you can’t underscore enough the polling as it relates to genocide. As we noted, the media absolutely refuses to not only characterize the slaughter and societal destruction as such but they sometimes even neglect (perhaps willfully) to remind you that there’s an ongoing genocide case against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Consider The New York Times report from a week ago about Israel’s absurd announcement that it was going to investigate itself for the killing of Hind Rajab, her family and a pair of responding paramedics, and the separate killing spree of 14 Palestinian medics.

As its way of adding context, The Times wrote: “The reviews came after widespread international condemnation of Israel’s conduct during the conflict, with several rights groups and governments accusing the country of committing war crimes.” What’s notable is the so-called Paper of Record can’t even bring itself to recall not only the ICJ genocide investigation, which it most definitely covered, but also the fact that “rights groups”—their phrasing—have charged that the country is committing genocide, including organizations in Israel.

And each week somehow brings something new. Over the last few days, we’ve witnessed the resurgence of attacks on influential progressive streamer Hasan Piker. For the media, Piker’s streams are more newsworthy than the continued killing of Palestinians and destruction of infrastructure in Gaza. The violent outburst included strikes on a water desalination plant (Doctors Without Borders previously said Israel was using water as a weapon of war), a mosque and a refugee camp. Among those killed were at least three children, including a pair of 4-year-olds.

The disconnect between the political and media class and real people’s perceptions couldn’t be more stark—and the political ramifications could be huge.

Take the YouGov survey. While the media often frames anti-Israel sentiment as leftist-driven, the poll’s crosstabs tell a different, and more compelling, story.

Consider the question YouGov asked likely Democratic primary voters in the half-dozen early nominating states:

“In the 2028 Democratic primary for president, will U.S. foreign policy and relations with Israel play a role in your vote?”

While the total number of voters who said “yes” was overwhelming in most of the states, it was those who identified as “moderates” who may actually deliver the biggest blow to the establishment come 2028. Here’s the percentage of those voters who said “yes”: New Hampshire (65%), Virginia (55%), Michigan (60%), New Mexico (60%), South Carolina (54%) and Nevada (66%).

Of course, none of this should come as a surprise given the role the annihilation of Gaza played in dragging down Kamala Harris in key battleground states in 2024.

The dam isn’t breaking—it’s been obliterated. And we’re not just talking about public sentiment. This is much deeper than electoral politics. People believe what they see—and no amount of obfuscation and gaslighting can change that. And perhaps that’s what the establishment is most afraid of.

Image Source

• Andrew Ratto, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Changes were made.