A Gallup poll released Friday found that, for the first time in decades of polling, a slight plurality of the US public sympathizes more with Palestinians than with Israelis in their conflict. The survey reported 41% of US adults saying they sympathize more with Palestinians and 36% saying they sympathize more with Israelis; the rest said they supported both sides equally, neither side, or were undecided. Gallup noted the gap was not statistically significant but that it marks the first occasion Israel did not lead in its tracking.
A year earlier, sympathy favored Israel by 46% to 33%. Gallup said the shift began before the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and accelerated during the Gaza war. The change was driven largely by independents, who favored Palestinians by an 11-point margin.
Party breakdowns show deep polarization: 65% of Democrats said they sympathize more with Palestinians versus 17% for Israelis, while 70% of Republicans expressed greater sympathy for Israel. Gallup added that Republican support for Israel remains high despite a slight decline over the past decade.
Analysts have linked part of the changing sentiment to growing Democratic criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and to concerns among some Democratic voters that President Joe Biden did not do more to restrain Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Gallup’s telephone survey of 1,001 US adults was conducted between February 2 and February 16 and has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.
