Pew poll shows partisan split on support for Israel or Palestinians or both.

[pampango]

Liberal Democrats express similar levels of sympathy for Israel and the Palestinians: 20% of liberal Democrats say they sympathize with Israel a lot, while 45% say they have some sympathy for Israel; 19% of liberal Democrats have a lot of sympathy for the Palestinians and 45% have some sympathy.

Conservative Republicans are far more likely to sympathize with Israel (63% a lot, 21% some) than with the Palestinians (4% a lot, 22% some). Nearly seven-in-ten (68%) say they have not much or no sympathy at all with the Palestinians, compared with just 12% who say this about Israel.



Sympathy with Israel, Palestinians Not Mutually Exclusive

The new survey shows that, for many, holding a sympathetic or unsympathetic view of one side does not translate into holding the opposite view of the other side. Overall, 37% say they have either a lot or some sympathy with both Israel and the Palestinians. Another 18% say they have not much or no sympathy at all for both sides.



Views of Obama’s Handling of Middle East Situation

About half (49%) of the public says Obama is striking about the right balance in dealing with the situation in the Middle East, while 22% say he is favoring the Palestinians too much and 13% think he is favoring Israel too much. Views are little changed since the question was last asked in late April.



http://www.people-press.org/2014/08/28/more-express-sympathy-for-israel-than-the-palestinians/

[Bragi]

1. This is surprising and encouraging

What is surprising for me is this: If most Americans get most of their information about the Middle East from US mainstream media, and given the screeching and overwhelming pro-Israel, anti-Palestinian bias of almost all US media, it is surprising that Americans have a somewhat balanced and nuanced view of the whole conflict.

Whatever be the reason, it is nonetheless encouraging that this is the case.