Pew is non-partisan

In “Democrats remain in the pro-Israel camp, despite Pew Poll” (Comment & Features, February 4), Ron Klein criticizes a recent Pew Research Center report that examines public opinion toward Israel and the Palestinians.

He cites a piece by Tamara Wittes and Daniel Shapiro published by The Atlantic. Wittes and Shapiro focus primarily on the wording of a question that asks with which side in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a respondent sympathizes more. They write that “[t]he poll question is faulty because sympathy for Palestinians should not imply hostility to Israel, nor should sympathy for Israel require disregard for the fate of Palestinians.”

This is an interpretation we are careful to avoid in our report. As mentioned in the article, respondents could volunteer other responses, such as “both” or “neither,” or simply not answer the question. Throughout, we draw attention to the shares who do not sympathize more with either Israel or the Palestinians.

The report also stated that in the past year, the share of Democrats who “don’t know” has risen from 17% to 25% while the share saying “both” or “neither” has increased from 19% to 23%. This question has been asked in various forms since 1978, and not 2001, as Wittes and Shapiro write.

In addition, the report makes clear that this is a question intended to measure sympathies for Israel or the Palestinians in the Middle East, not to measure support for Israel. We understand that this “forced choice” question about sympathies for Israel and the Palestinians alone does not provide a complete picture of opinions about Israel or the Palestinians. For that reason, we have asked about “sympathy” for Israel and the Palestinians in separate questions (i.e., one about sympathy toward Israel and another about sympathy toward Palestinians, in random order), most recently in March 2015.

Those measures also found sizable, though somewhat narrower, partisan differences than the forced choice question: 79% of Republicans sympathized “a lot” or “some” with Israel, compared with 57% of Democrats. While more than half of Democrats (54%) expressed at least some sympathy for the Palestinians, fewer Republicans (33%) said the same.

The question Wittes and Shapiro criticize is one of many we regularly ask about the Middle East, and the 40-year-long trend allows us to track opinion over time. However, we pose other questions relevant to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and provide detailed subgroup (not just partisan) analyses of these questions.

Our recent report included questions about the possibility of a two-state solution and views of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both of these questions contribute to a wider understanding of relevant public opinion, and responses also revealed wide partisan gaps.

Finally, Wittes and Shapiro claim that the Pew Research Center “marketed” the poll’s results. The center is committed to objectivity, accuracy, rigor and transparency; we are a non-partisan and non-advocacy organization that does not take policy positions on issues and while we present our survey findings to the public, we do not “market” them.

CARROLL DOHERTY Washington The writer is director of political research for the Pew Research Center.