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Pew: Democratic Sympathy for Israel Stays Strong; Republican Support Surges

by TheTower.org Staff |

The results of a poll released Tuesday by Pew Research showed continued strong support for Israel among Americans of all political denominations as Operation Protective Edge began.

The press release accompanying the poll was titled As Mideast Violence Continues, a Wide Partisan Gap in Israel-Palestinian Sympathies.

As violence between Israel and Hamas shows no signs of abating, the sympathies of the American public continue to lie with Israel rather than the Palestinians. And dating back to the late 1970s, the partisan gap in Mideast sympathies has never been wider.
Currently, 51% of Americans say that in the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians, they sympathize more with Israel. Just 14% sympathize more with the Palestinians, while 15% volunteer that they sympathize with neither side and 3% sympathize with both.

Despite the press release’s dramatic headline about the “partisan gap,” the actual graph of support shows that this gap is not attributable to a weakening of pro-Israel support. Since the late 1970s, Democratic support for Israel as measured by Pew has remained steady at about 44%. However, over that time, Republican support for Israel has grown significantly more.

The Jewish Virtual Library’s analysis of Gallup polls since 1993 shows the ratio of American support for Israel as opposed to support of the Palestinians has ranged roughly between 3 and 4 to 1.

[Photo: U.S. Department of State / YouTube ]

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