A pro-Irsael protester demonstrates near the Consulate General of Israel during the second day of the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 20 in Chicago. Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images
By Louis Keene
March 7, 2025
Sympathy for Israelis has plummeted among self-identified Democrats in the last 12 months, according to a new Gallup poll, reaching by far the lowest level it has ever been in the 25 years the survey has been conducted.
The poll of 1,004 Americans asked respondents whether they sympathized more with the Palestinians or the Israelis “in the Middle East situation.” Only 21% of Democrats said the Israelis — down from 35% last year, the previous all-time low — compared to a record 59% who sided with the Palestinians, sharply reversing a dip shown in the first poll after the Oct. 7 attacks. That means Democrats sympathized with Palestinians in this year’s poll at about the same rate they did with Israelis in 2014.
Factoring in responses from Republicans and independents — both of whose sympathy for Palestinians crept higher — overall sympathy for the Israelis declined for the fifth straight year. Forty-six percent of all respondents said they sympathized more with Israelis, compared to 33% for Palestinians. Republican sympathy for Israel remained high, with nearly three-in-four sympathizing more with the Israelis, down from 80% last year.
The survey, which stated a 4% margin of error, is one of several to have come out in the past year showing the erosion of bipartisan support for Israel during its war in Gaza, in which more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed. An Oct. 2024 poll by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research showed Democrats are more likely to blame Israel than Palestinians for the fighting.
Gallup conducted the survey from February 3-16, as the temporary Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage release were underway; on Feb. 4, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House, President Donald Trump proposed that the U.S. take over and redevelop the Gaza Strip.
February 2023 marked the first year that more Democrats sympathized with Palestinians than Israelis since Gallup launched the survey in 2001. Seven months later, Hamas killed 1,200 people and kidnapped some 250 more in a surprise attack on Israel. The subsequent Feb. 2024 poll saw declining sympathy for Palestinians, though sympathy for Israelis also fell. (Respondents could also say both, neither or that they had no opinion.)
Meanwhile, Republican support soared for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank, from 25% to 41%. About three-quarters of Democrats back the idea.
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