The most important US pollster, Gallup, found that after a decade in which Democrats showed a growing affinity for the Palestinians , sympathy in the Middle East is now more with the Palestinians than with the Israelis, 49% to 38%, according to the poll. Published by Gallup on Thursday, March 16, 2023.

"Today's positions reflect an 11-percentage-point increase over last year in Democrats' sympathy for the Palestinians. At the same time, the percentages of those who sympathize more with the Israelis (38%) and those who do not support one side (13%) have fallen to new lows," the site says. .

According to the poll, sympathy for the Palestinians hit a new high among political independents, rising six points to 32%. Still, more independents leaned towards Israelis (49%).

As for the opinions of Republicans, they did not change, with nearly eight in 10 (78%) sympathizing more with the Israelis, while 11% supported the Palestinians.

The latest findings are from Gallup's February 1-23 update of the annual Global Affairs Poll.

Nationwide, the sympathy gap in the Middle East is narrowing

As a result of partisan shifts this year, sympathy for the Palestinians among American adults reached a new high of 31%, while favoring no side reached a new low of 15%. 54% of Americans identify more with Israelis similar to last year's 55% but the lowest since 2005.

The resulting 23-point gap in Americans' sympathy for Israel versus the Palestinians represents Israel's weakest advantage in this question in the direction of the Gallup World Affairs Poll. It is also the first time that Israel does not have a better advantage of 2 to 1 over the Palestinians in American sympathy.

The most significant changes in public opinion on this issue have occurred in the past five years, as support for the Palestinians has increased and support for Israel has decreased as well as ambivalence about the conflict.

Partisan differences aside, Gallup continues to see generational differences in the way adults in the United States view the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Net sympathy toward Israel - the percentage more sympathetic to Israelis than to Palestinians - is strongly positive among older generations, including Baby Boomers (+46 points) (1946-1960), Generation X (+32) and Silent Generation (+31) . By contrast, millennials are now evenly split, with 42% sympathizing more with Palestinians and 40% with Israelis, yielding a -2 point net sympathy for Israel.

There are very few adult members of Generation Z (ages 18-22) in the latest survey to report, but the limited available data suggests that their views on this question are similar to those of millennials.

Today's difference reflects a sharp decline in recent years in net sympathy for Israel among millennials, while net sympathy for Israel has been consistent at a higher level among the three oldest generations.

The advantage over Israel remains strong

In addition to the sympathy question, which focuses on the Israeli and Palestinian people, Gallup asks Americans whether their general views of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, as two states, are favorable or unfavorable. This is part of a longer list of countries ranked each year.

In line with previous years, Americans view Israel much better than they do the Palestinian Authority, 68% versus 26%. Israel's current positive rating is lower than Gallup's annual readings over the past decade, but matches the average since 2001. The PA's current rating is on par with the slightly elevated level seen since 2021, which is above the 19% average recorded since 2001.

Also, as is typical, Israel is viewed favorably by a majority of party groups - 82% Republicans, 67% Independents, and 56% Democrats. Conversely, relatively few of the three groups view the PA favorably: 36% of Democrats, 28% of independents, and 9% of Republicans.

The slight increase in positive ratings for the PA over the past decade has been exclusively among Democrats (up 16 percentage points since 2013) and Independents (up 14 points).

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Americans' views on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict are becoming more polarized as Democrats increasingly sympathize with the Palestinians, while Republicans maintain their strong alliance with the Israelis. The escalation in Israeli-Palestinian hostilities over the past year, which has resulted in the deaths of a significant number of Palestinians, can partly explain the recent shift in perspective for Democrats. But the Democrats' waning religiosity may be a factor in the long-term trend. Sympathy for Israel has historically been closely linked to religion, with those who attend religious services weekly having more sympathy for Israelis than those who rarely or never attend.

Regardless of the reasons why Democrats (and, to a lesser extent, independents) have changed views on the conflict, majorities across all generations and partisan groups still view Israel favorably and look more positively toward Israel than they do toward the Palestinian Authority. This suggests that while mainstream democrats may want to meet the needs of the Palestinians, they want solutions that respect Israel's needs as well.