Nearly half of Americans believe the United States should arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under the warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court, according to an Economist/YouGov poll published Tuesday night as he visited the White House.
Forty-nine percent of respondents said Netanyahu should be arrested upon arriving in the United States, compared with 27% who said he should not. The partisan divide was clear: 68% of Democrats supported his arrest, compared with just 24% of Republicans.
The poll also found that 47% of Americans believed Netanyahu's actions had damaged relations between the United States and Israel. That view was shared by 61% of Democrats and 30% of Republicans.
On another question, 47% of respondents said they believed Netanyahu was guilty of war crimes in Gaza, compared with 24% who said he was not. The same partisan pattern emerged: 71% of Democrats held this view, compared with 20% of Republicans.
The survey also examined American public opinion on the war in Iran. It found that 60% believed the United States was spending too much money on the war, while 19% considered the level of spending reasonable and just 5% said it was too low. Eighty-five percent of Democrats and 67% of independents said the spending was excessive, as did 28% of Republicans.
Another issue examined was the civil nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia, which was also part of the backdrop to the White House meeting. Thirty-one percent of Americans supported US assistance for Saudi Arabia in developing nuclear energy for civilian purposes, while 44% opposed it.
In a separate question, most respondents said they were concerned about North Korea possessing nuclear weapons (85%), followed by Iran (82%), Pakistan (72%), Saudi Arabia (69%) and Israel (64%). About half, 51%, expressed concern about Ukraine possessing nuclear weapons.
Asked whether they believed Israel was committing "genocide" against Palestinians, 43% answered yes. According to YouGov, views on the issue have changed little over the past year. In September 2025, 42% of respondents gave the same answer.
One in five Americans, 19%, supported removing all Palestinians from Gaza, while 41% opposed the idea. Support stood at 6% among Democrats and 12% among independents. Among Republicans, the share supporting the proposal was twice the share opposing it, 41% to 20%. The divide was even sharper within the Republican camp. Fifty-one percent of those identifying with the Make America Great Again movement supported the proposal, compared with 23% of other Republicans.
The White House meeting took place as US President Donald Trump reached a low point in the polls. According to the same survey, 34% of Americans approved of his performance as president and 62% disapproved, his worst ratings across his two terms. Nearly all Republicans identifying with the MAGA movement continued to support Trump. Among Republicans who did not identify with the movement, 55% approved of his performance and 43% disapproved.
The survey was conducted among 1,559 US adult citizens and had a margin of error of approximately 3.3 percentage points.
