Gallup poll finds Americans sympathize more with Palestinians than Israelis for the first time, a shift driven by changing views among independents.
WASHINGTON: Americans sympathize more with Palestinians than Israelis for the first time, according to a new Gallup poll.
The survey found 41% of Americans side with the Palestinians, while 36% sympathize more with Israel.
This marks a sharp shift from a year ago, when Israel led in sympathies 46% to 33%.
The change is largely due to more independents souring on Israel, with independents now siding with the Palestinian people by an 11-percentage-point margin.
Views remain sharply divided along partisan lines, with Republicans continuing to back Israel strongly.
Some 70% of Republicans side with Israel, although that figure has declined by 10 percentage points over the past decade.
In contrast, 65% of Democrats now sympathize with the Palestinians and only 17% with Israel.
Democratic views of Israel have grown increasingly negative over the past decade.
This shift began when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu openly broke with then-US president Barack Obama on Iran diplomacy.
Israel has since moved sharply to the right politically.
Some Democratic voters also faulted former president Joe Biden for not doing more to rein in Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
That campaign followed the unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas.
The gap in the latest poll is not statistically significant, but it is a historic first for the survey.
Gallup has asked the question for more than two decades, and Israel had always previously been on top.
