Every year for the past several years we have reported on the Gallup polling on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. What that polling shows is a consistent and long-term American support for Israel when given the binary choice of supporting Israel or Palestinians.
Normally Gallup publishes its findings in March, but for whatever the reason, the 2020 polling was released on April 22, 2020, as part of a Gallup news release regarding increasing support for an independent Palestinian state.
Americans’ Sympathies in Israel-Palestinian Conflict Fairly Steady
By 60% to 23%, Americans continue to sympathize more with the Israelis than the Palestinians in the Middle East situation. While not a statistically significant change from last year’s 21%, the 23% favoring the Palestinians today is the highest recorded in Gallup’s World Affairs survey trends since 2001.Gallup’s Mideast sympathies trend documents important changes in Americans’ reactions toward the Palestinian-Israeli dispute; however, the precise percentage sympathizing more with Israel can vary, depending on survey context. Recent Gallup research found that the standard question order used on Gallup’s annual World Affairs Survey, where this question follows the favorable ratings of countries, produces a higher percentage of Americans — 11 percentage points higher in 2019 — sympathizing with Israel than when the question is asked on surveys where it does not follow the favorability question.
Israel’s favorability also rose:
Israel Maintains High Favorable Rating
Meanwhile, Israel’s favorable rating in the same poll is near its historical high in Gallup trends. The 30% holding a very favorable view of the country is one point shy of the record 31% recorded in 2018, and the combined 74% very or mostly favorable views is exceeded only by the 79% recorded in January 1991, shortly after Iraqi Scud missiles struck Israel during the Gulf War.
As in prior years, Republicans are more favorable to Israel than Democrats, but even Democrats sympathize more with Israel than Palestinians.
Republicans’ and Democrats’ current attitudes toward Israel and the Palestinian Authority are typical of the pattern seen over the past two decades.While the majority of Republicans and Democrats view Israel favorably, and both groups sympathize more with the Israelis than the Palestinians in the conflict, there are differences in degree. Republicans express greater sympathy and favorability toward Israel than Democrats do. By the same token, both groups view the Palestinian Authority unfavorably, but Democrats less so than Republicans.The two partisan groups hold substantively different views on the question of an independent Palestinian state. The majority of Democrats (70%) favor the establishment of such a state, while more Republicans oppose (48%) than support it (44%).
What stands out from this polling, which has been taking place for decades, is the consistency of support for Israel by almost a 3-1 margin, no matter who is President or which political party is in control in the U.S. As I’ve said many times, despite massive attempts to demonize the so-called “Israel Lobby” and to delegitimize Israel, politicians in the U.S. support Israel because the American people support Israe. The American people are the “Israel Lobby.”
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