Fewer than half of Americans sympathize more with Israelis than with Palestinians, according to a new Gallup poll, the lowest figure for Israelis since at least 2001.
The poll, published Thursday, found that 46 percent of respondents sympathize more with Israelis while 33% sympathize more with Palestinians.
The 13-point gap is also the smallest since at least 2001. That year, 51% of respondents sympathized more with Israelis, but only 16% sympathized more with Palestinians.
Sympathy for Israelis has dropped in the past few years, as a hardline right-wing government has led Israel and, since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, fought a war against the terror group in Gaza with high numbers of casualties.
The war broke out when Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping 251. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 48,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
Thursday’s poll was taken in February, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington DC, and US President Donald Trump proposed a US takeover of the Gaza Strip, which Netanyahu endorsed.
A pro-Israel counter-protester at an anti-Israel demonstration in Times Square, New York City, January 1, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)
A decade ago, 62% of respondents sympathized more with Israelis, compared to 16% with the Palestinians. In 2022, the gap was 55% to 26%.
Among Democrats, the drop this year was even starker, with the Palestinians receiving more sympathy by a wide margin: Just 21% say they sympathize more with Israelis, while 59% sympathize more with Palestinians.
That’s a considerable shift from 2022, when Democrats’ sympathies were about even at 40% for Israelis vs. 38% for Palestinians. Last year, it was 43% for Palestinians vs. 38% for Israelis. Polls taken more than a decade ago show Democratic sympathies lying more with Israelis by wide margins.
Thursday’s number dovetails with a Gallup poll released in late February that found just 33% of Democrats have a favorable view of Israel, compared with 83% of Republicans.
Police patrol as workers clean up anti-Israel graffiti at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus after police evicted pro-Palestinian protesters, May 2, 2024. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP)
This week’s poll found that Republican sympathies with Israelis have remained relatively steady, at 75% vs. 10% for Palestinians. Among independents, the Israeli-Palestinian split was 42% to 34%.
The poll found that 55% of Americans, and majorities of Democrats and independents, support the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Among Republicans, support for a Palestinian state was at 41%.
The poll also found that just 40% of respondents approve of the way President Donald Trump is handling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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