Two thirds of Americans favor Israel over Palestinians

More Americans are for a Palestinian state than against; religious Republican over-50s strongest Israel supporters

By Sue Surkes 1 March 2016, 4:42 pm Edit

Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter.

Nearly two thirds of Americans (62 percent) favor Israel more than the Palestinians, as they have done for the past seven years, according to a Gallup poll published Monday.

Just 15% say their sympathies lie with the Palestinians, up from a 20% peak in 2007. One in five respondents said they had no opinion.

Pollsters have been asking the same question since 2001: “In the Middle East situation, are your sympathies more with the Israelis or more with the Palestinians?”

Support for Israel was much higher among Protestants (72%) than Catholics (58%) and lowest among nonreligious Americans (41%). It was much higher among Republicans (79%) than Democrats (53%), and among the over 50s group (72%) than younger groups (54%).

Margins in favor of a Palestinian state still outstrip those against, but support has gone down from a high of 58% in 2003-4 to 44% today.

Telephone interviews were conducted with 1,021 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 US states and the District of Columbia. The margin of error was 4%.

In December, a Brookings Institution poll showed significant disapproval in the US over the perceived influence Israel has on American politics, as well as an overall decrease in support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government’s policies.