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gallup
For First Time, Gallup Poll Shows Americans Sympathize More With Palestinians Than With Israelis
"From 2001 to 2025, Israelis consistently held double-digit leads in Americans’ Middle East sympathies, with the gap averaging 43 points between 2001 and 2018," Gallup reported. "However, public opinion began narrowing in 2019, several years before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza. The cumulative effect of gradual changes in US attitudes since then has led to the Israelis no longer being viewed more sympathetically."
Notably, the Gallup survey shows that "Americans of all age groups have grown more sympathetic to the Palestinians in recent years." A majority of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 (53%) said they sympathize more with the Palestinians and 23% said they sympathize more with the Israelis, "a record low for the age group," according to Gallup.
The survey also showed a "near reversal" among Americans aged 35 to 54—with 46% now saying they sympathize more with the Palestinians—and the "narrowest gap in sympathies" Gallup has ever recorded for Americans aged 55 and older.
In terms of political affiliation, Gallup found that "Americans’ shifting sympathies in the Middle East situation this year are mostly driven by changes among political independents," who now sympathize more with the Palestinians than the Israelis by a margin of 41% to 30%.
"It is difficult to overstate the significance of this," Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, wrote in response to the Gallup survey. "This is a key reason why Israel—and its supporters in the US—have a sense of desperate urgency when it comes to war with Iran and annexation of Palestine."
"The window for these aggressions with US support is closing," Parsi added.
The new poll also found that Americans' support for a Palestinian state is at its highest level in more than two decades as current Israeli leaders vow to prevent Palestinian statehood and ramp up their illegal annexation of territory—an effort effectively endorsed by the Trump administration.
Support for Israel's War on Gaza Plummeting Among Key Biden Voters: Poll
"The crosstabs are even more striking—nearly two-thirds of people under 54, people of color, and women disapprove of the military action in Gaza," Sam Rosenthal, political director of the progressive advocacy group RootsAction, told Common Dreams in response to the new poll. "That is effectively the Democratic Party's base."
"Given these numbers," Rosenthal added, "I don't know how President Biden can reconcile his stalwart support for Israel with the clear preference that his core constituents have for an end to this war."
Overall, Gallup found that 55% of the American public—including 60% of Independents and 30% of Republicans—disapproves of Israel's military campaign in the Gaza Strip, up from 45% in November. Just 36% of the U.S. public approves, down from 50% four months ago.
"Biden is risking his second term and our democracy by continuing to support the kind of violence and cruelty that is being perpetrated in Gaza right now."
Observers
noted that Gallup's new poll was conducted after the Israeli military's February 29 massacre of Palestinians seeking food aid. Since October, according to one human rights monitor, Israeli forces have killed more than 560 people waiting for humanitarian aid, the delivery of which Israel's government has intentionally hindered—fueling the spread of famine across the territory.
The Biden administration has backed Israel's assault from the beginning, providing the Netanyahu government with billions of dollars worth of weapons and diplomatic cover despite widespread and growing protests at home and abroad. Gallup's survey found that 74% of U.S. adults say they are following developments in Gaza "closely."
Political analyst Yousef Munayyer wrote on social media that "Biden's policy of continued support for Israel's war on Gaza is in line with the views of the right-wing Republicans," noting that 64% of GOP voters still approve of the Israeli assault—down slightly from 71% in November.
"Just to emphasize how extreme his position is and out of line with his voters," he added, "more Republicans disapprove of the war than Democrats who approve."
Growing Democratic opposition to Israel's military action in Gaza has fueled grassroots campaigns across the country urging voters to mark "uncommitted" on their Democratic primary ballots to pressure Biden to change course ahead of the general election against Trump, who has voiced support for Israel's devastating assault on Gaza.
"Uncommitted" campaigns won 11 Democratic National Convention (DNC) delegates in Minnesota and two in both Michigan and Washington state.
"Biden is risking his second term and our democracy by continuing to support the kind of violence and cruelty that is being perpetrated in Gaza right now," Faheem Khan, president of the American Muslim Advancement Council and a lead organizer of Uncommitted WA, said earlier this week.
Rosenthal of RootsAction told Common Dreams on Wednesday that the U.S. decision to abstain and allow the U.N. Security Council to pass a cease-fire resolution earlier this week was "a step in the right direction, and a clear indication that domestic pressure from campaigns like Listen to Michigan and other uncommitted voting efforts is working."
"However, actual policy towards Israel has changed very little," said Rosenthal. "Biden is still clamoring for more military aid to be sent, and the U.S. still largely supports Israel's line, i.e., that military operations in Gaza are solely aimed at rooting out Hamas. What is manifestly obvious to the rest of the world, that Israel is committed to the wanton destruction of the Gaza Strip, is somehow escaping the administration's notice."
"President Biden should decide quickly whether he wants to continue to uphold policy that is increasingly associated with the opposition party," Rosenthal added.
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