TEL AVIV – Support for Israel among the American public is at the lowest it has been in a decade, liberal Democrats the least sympathetic towards Israel, a poll released Wednesday by Gallup showed.
Republican support declined by 13% from last year, from 87% to 76%, a surprising drop considering the strong ties between Israel and the Trump administration.
Democratic support dropped by 6% from 49% to 43%. Liberal Democrats were ranked as the least sympathetic towards Israel.
Gallup News explained the poll thusly:
Another way to evaluate the shifts over time in the two major party groups’ views toward the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is to review net sympathies toward Israel — the percentage who sympathize more with Israel minus those sympathizing more with the Palestinians — among the main ideological groups within each party.
On this basis, it’s clear that conservative Republicans have long been the most partial to Israel in the conflict, given their consistently high net-sympathy ratings. Moderate/liberal Republicans have the second-highest net-sympathy for Israel, followed by moderate/conservative Democrats, while liberal Democrats have the lowest net sympathy for Israel.
Apart from the rank order, the gaps in net sympathy for Israel between the groups have been widening, with sympathy for Israel increasing among both Republican groups and decreasing among both Democratic groups.
Overall, 59% of Americans say they sympathize with Israel over the Palestinians, down from 65% the previous year. The number of Americans who sympathize more with the Palestinian cause, however, has remained unchanged at 21%.
“The slight decline in US sympathies toward Israel in the past year can be explained by drops among both major party groups,” reads a Gallup description of their poll results. “The percentage of Republicans saying they sympathize more with Israel in the conflict fell from an all-time high of 87% in 2018 to 76% today.”
“Last year’s reading was taken as the Donald Trump administration was preparing to move the U.S .Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a change that highlighted [U.S. President Donald] Trump’s strong support of Israel,” it added.