The number of Americans who favor Israel over the Palestinians has sunk to the lowest level since 2009, according to the results of a poll released Wednesday.
The Gallup poll found 59 percent of Americans sympathize more with the Israelis than Palestinians. Twenty-one percent sympathize more with the Palestinians, the highest percentage since 2001.
Support for Israel dropped from 64 percent in 2018. The decline came from Republicans and Democrats.
Republicans who sympathize with Israel fell from 87 percent in 2018, an all-time high, to 76 percent in 2019. Democrats who had more sympathy for Israel decline from 49 percent to 43 percent.
“In terms of recent changes, however, most of the decline in net sympathy for Israel has occurred among liberal Democrats,” wrote Lydia Saad, a senior editor for The Gallup Poll. “What this means is that nearly as many liberal Democrats now sympathize more with the Palestinians (38%) as with the Israelis (41%), with the rest favoring neither side or unsure.”
“While liberal Democrats are no less favorable toward Israel today than they have been over the past two decades, they have grown more favorable toward the Palestinians and, perhaps as a result, less likely to side with Israel in the conflict,” she added.
The 2019 poll was conducted Feb. 1-10, before Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., implied some of her colleagues support Israel only because of political donations and suggested supporters of Israel are pushing for an “allegiance to a foreign country.”
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have viewed Omar’s comments as anti-Semitic.
The House is expected to vote on a resolution Thursday that “rejects anti-Semitism as hateful expressions of intolerance that are contradictory to the values that define the people of the United States.” It won’t single out Omar.
Gallup surveyed 1,016 adults. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
