American voters now say they sympathize more with Palestinians than with Israelis by a narrow margin, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll, a striking reversal from the public response immediately after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 massacre.
Thirty-eight percent of registered voters said their sympathies lie more with Palestinians, compared with 35% who chose Israelis. The three-point gap falls within the survey’s 3.9-point margin of error, but Quinnipiac said it marked the highest Palestinian figure and lowest Israeli figure since it began asking the question in 2001.
The poll surveyed 970 registered voters nationwide from Sept. 3-6.
In the weeks following Oct. 7, when Hamas terrorists murdered some 1,200 people in southern Israel and abducted 251 others, Quinnipiac found 61% of voters sympathized more with Israelis and 12% with Palestinians. Israel’s standing has steadily eroded as the Gaza war has continued.
The shift is especially stark among Democrats and independents. Democrats sided with Palestinians by 62% to 13%, while independents did so by 40% to 29%. Republicans remained strongly pro-Israel, with 64% identifying more with Israelis and 13% with Palestinians.
See related: Who’s to blame for declining American support for Israel?
The survey also found that 48% of voters believe the United States is too supportive of Israel. That view was held by 67% of Democrats and 57% of independents. Among Republicans, 68% said Washington’s support for the Jewish state was about right.
The figures reflect the success of a sustained campaign that has placed Israel, rather than Hamas, at the center of public anger over the war. Hamas launched the conflict, continues to hold Israeli hostages and has embedded its military infrastructure among Gaza’s civilian population. Yet the political cost of the war is increasingly being borne by Israel in American public opinion.
The result is a widening partisan and generational challenge for the US-Israel alliance, even as Israel remains locked in a broader regional confrontation with Iran and its terrorist proxies.
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