Following his strident defense of the state of Israel, his advocacy for tougher border enforcement and immigration laws, and his broadsides against the “pinko” left, Senator Fetterman has been rewarded with higher approval ratings back home in Pennsylvania, according to recent polling. 

According to a recent Quinnipiac poll, Mr. Fetterman’s support for Israel makes 26 percent of voters more likely to support him, while only 14 percent think less favorably of him. On immigration, 35 percent of voters say his calls for tougher immigration laws make him more endearing, while just 9 percent say they are less likely to support him because of it. 

Among Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, he has seen his poll numbers rise. In total, 45 percent of voters support Mr. Fetterman, while 42 percent disapprove. In June, according to another Quinnipiac poll, 50 percent of voters disapproved of Mr. Fetterman’s job performance, while just 39 percent approved. 

Among registered voters, his approval rating is even, 42 percent to 42 percent. His greatest strength understandably comes from fellow Democrats, who give him an approval rating of 76 percent to a 7 percent unfavorable rating. Even among Pennsylvania Republicans, however, 12 percent view him favorably. 

Among younger voters, however, Mr. Fetterman remains underwater. Among 18 to 34-year-olds, the senator has a net negative approval rating of 39 percent to 42 percent. Voters aged 35 to 49 disapprove of his job performance by a slim margin, 43 percent to 45 percent. 

Older voters, which is a typically Republican base, give Mr. Fetterman wide approvals. Of those voters older than 65, they approve of his job performance by a margin of 57 to 35 percent. 

The famous Republican pollster, Frank Luntz, said on X, formerly Twitter, that “John Fetterman knows his constituency a lot better than Progressive Twitter does.”

Mr. Fetterman campaigned in Pennsylvania for years as a “progressive” in the mold of Senator Sanders. He stood on stage with the Vermonter at rallies during his 2016 presidential campaign, and Mr. Sanders returned the favor and supported Mr. Fetterman when he ran for lieutenant governor in 2018. 

In an interview with CNN in December, Mr. Fetterman eschewed that progressive label. “I would just call myself a Democrat,” he said, referring to himself as “pro-choice,” “pro-union” and pro-Israel. 

He has been a staunch defender of Israel long before his election to the Senate, but the October 7 Hamas attack and the ensuing Israeli military operation at Gaza led some liberal activists to believe he would be a forceful advocate for a cease-fire and a two-state solution. 

His record, though, proves that he never would have capitulated to that demand. “Whenever I’m in a situation to be called on to take up the cause of strengthening and enhancing the security of Israel or deepening our relationship between the United States and Israel, I’m going to lean in,” Mr. Fetterman told Jewish Insider during his 2022 Senate race. “I would also respectfully say that I’m not really a progressive in that sense.”

In one of the more viral moments of his Senate career, Mr. Fetterman, as he was exiting his Senate office building, laughed and waved two small Israeli flags in the direction of protesters on Capitol Hill who were calling for a cease-fire. 

Just recently, he made a forceful defense of Israel in its fight against Hamas and its fight against South Africa, which has brought genocide charges against the Jewish state at the International Court of Justice. 

“Who are they really fighting?” Mr. Fetterman said about Israel’s fight against Hamas. “It’s a group of cowards. They hide in tunnels, they hide behind civilians. They attack, kill, mutilate children, women, and they do that. Stop talking about proportion on that. They shot their best shot on October 7, and they would have taken more lives if they could have but they couldn’t do it.”

He called out South Africa, with its long history as an apartheid state, for its hypocrisy in accusing Israel of committing genocide. “Now we’re talking about genocide,” he said. “And now, South Africa now, is bringing that kind of a trial. Maybe South Africa ought to sit this one out when they’re talking about criticizing Israel. Sit it out!”

He also made news amid the Senate’s attempt to craft a bipartisan immigration reform and border security package. He has said that the sheer number of crossings and the subsequent inability to process these asylum-seeking migrants constitutes a crisis. 

“I hope Democrats can understand that it isn’t xenophobic to be concerned about the border,” Mr. Fetterman said in an interview with Politico. “It’s a reasonable conversation, and Democrats should engage.”

“Honestly, it’s astonishing. And this isn’t a Fox News kind of statistic. This is the government’s,” he said. “You essentially have Pittsburgh showing up there at the border” every month.

Mr. Fetterman made news once again as Harvard’s president Claudine Gay announced she had resigned her position, telling Semafor that Harvard — where he obtained a master’s degree — “of course, it was always a little pinko. But now, I don’t recognize it.”