DEMS’ ‘PAL’ESTINE
Sympathize less with Israel for 1st time: poll
More Democrats have sympathy for the Palestinian cause than for Israel’s for the first time in the conflict, a new Gallup poll has found — putting them at odds with both Republicans and the US as a whole.
The survey found that 49% of Democrats said their sympathies were more with the Palestinians than the Israelis, while 38% said the opposite and 13% said their sympathies were with both sides, neither group or that they had no opinion.
Democratic affinity for the Palestinians has more than tripled over the past two decades from a low of 16% in 2003.
By contrast, party members’ support for the Israeli cause has plummeted from a high of 58% in 2014.
The percentage of independents whose hearts go out to the Palestinians over the Israelis has grown 21 percentage points to 32% over the previous 10 years, but a plurality still backs Israeli (49%) — though that number is down 14 percentage points from 2013.
Republican attitudes toward the conflict, on the other hand, have remained relatively consistent over the past two decades, with 78% siding with the Israelis and 11% backing the Palestinians.
GOP sympathy for the Israelis hit a high of 87% in January 2018 before falling off to 76% the next year and then rebounding to 86% in January 2020.
Overall, 54% of Americans’ sympathies lie with the Israelis, but the portion of those whose feelings rest with the Palestinians (31%) is at its largest. That 23-point gap marks the first time Israel has had less than a 2-to-1 advantage over the Palestinians among Americans, pollsters note.
Setting aside political differences, Gallup also found generational differences in American attitudes toward the groups.
Positive sentiments toward Israel remained strong among Baby Boomers with a gap of 46 percentage points, Generation X with a net of 32 points and the Silent Generation — those born between 1928 and 1940 — with a 31-point difference.
However, millennials are divided, with 42% of that generation sympathizing with the Palestinians and 40% with the Israelis.
Gallup chalks up the changing views about Israelis and Palestinians to the polarizing political climate, but also points to other reasons why Democrats have altered their views.
“The escalation of Israeli-Palestinian hostilities over the past year, resulting in a high number of Palestinians killed, could partly explain the most recent shift in Democrats’ perspective,” it said.
“But Democrats’ waning religiosity may be a factor in the longerterm trend. Sympathy for Israel has historically been highly correlated with religion, with those attending religious services weekly being much more sympathetic to the Israelis than those who seldom or never attend.”