WASHINGTON, D.C. — Forty-one percent of Americans now say they sympathize more with the Palestinians in the Middle East situation, while 36% sympathize more with the Israelis. The five-percentage-point difference is not statistically significant, but it contrasts with a clear lead for the Israelis only a year ago (46% vs. 33%) and larger leads over the prior 24 years.
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. 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 U.S. attitudes since then has led to the Israelis no longer being viewed more sympathetically.
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As is typical for this trend, a large segment of Americans express no partiality toward the two sides in the Middle East conflict: 4% say they sympathize with both equally, 9% with neither, and 10% have no opinion.
Since Gallup’s prior update of this measure in February 2025, a U.S.-brokered ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, 2025. The first phase of the ceasefire, contingent upon the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian detainees in Israel, was completed in January. The second phase is now focused on reconstruction and demilitarization in Gaza, though both sides have accused each other of repeated breaches of the truce.
In terms of Americans’ separate favorable ratings of the two countries, the latest poll also finds a new high of 37% viewing the Palestinian Territories favorably, although still trailing Israel’s 46%. The 57% of Americans in favor of an independent Palestinian state nearly matches a reading from 2003 as the highest Gallup has measured.
Independents’ Sympathies Shift Toward Palestinians in Past Year
Americans’ shifting sympathies in the Middle East situation this year are mostly driven by changes among political independents. By 41% to 30%, independents say they sympathize more with the Palestinians than the Israelis, whereas in all prior years, they were more sympathetic toward the Israelis, including by 42% to 34% last year.
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Democrats’ sympathies haven’t changed significantly over the past year, having already flipped strongly toward the Palestinians in 2025 after first tilting that way in 2023. Currently, 65% of Democrats say their sympathies lie more with the Palestinians, while 17% say they sympathize more with the Israelis.
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Republicans continue to express greater sympathy for the Israelis than the Palestinians. Seven in 10 Republicans (70%) say they sympathize more with the Israelis, compared with 13% who sympathize more with the Palestinians. Although this remains a substantial gap, sympathy for the Israelis among Republicans has declined by 10 points since 2024 to its lowest level since 2004.
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Shift Toward Sympathy With Palestinians Seen Across All Age Groups
Americans of all age groups have grown more sympathetic to the Palestinians in recent years. Among those aged 18 to 34, 53% say they sympathize more with the Palestinians, marking the first time a majority of this age group has expressed this view. Meanwhile, 23% of young adults say they sympathize more with the Israelis, a record low for the age group.
Views among those aged 35 to 54 have also shifted decisively. In 2026, 46% say they sympathize more with the Palestinians, compared with 28% who sympathize more with the Israelis. This is a near reversal of opinion among this age group compared with 2025, when 45% gave more sympathy to the Israelis and 33% to the Palestinians.
Among adults aged 55 and older, 49% sympathize more with the Israelis and 31% with the Palestinians, the first time since 2005 that less than half of older Americans have said they sympathize more with the Israelis. The 18-point lead for the Israelis also represents the narrowest gap in sympathies recorded for this age group.
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Israel’s Favorability Drops as Palestinian Territories’ Rises
Additionally, Gallup measures Americans’ overall views of Israel and the Palestinian Territories — as either favorable or unfavorable — as part of its annual ratings of countries.
In the past year, Americans’ favorability toward Israel has declined, while their view of the Palestinian Territories has improved. Still, Americans retain a more positive view of Israel, with 46% viewing it favorably, than of the Palestinian Territories, at 37%.
Historically, Americans have rated Israel much more favorably than the Palestinian Territories (or “the Palestinian Authority,” as the item was worded from 2000 to 2024). Israel’s favorable rating has now declined to near its historical low (45%, measured in 1989), while ratings of the Palestinian Territories have improved to a new high point.
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For the first time on record, as many independents hold a very or mostly favorable view of the Palestinian Territories as they do of Israel (both 41%). Over the past year, independents’ favorability toward Israel has declined six points, while their favorability toward the Palestinian Territories has risen by 10. Looking at a longer time frame, however, the shift is more pronounced on the Israel side. Since February 2023 — the last measurement before the Oct. 7 attacks — independents’ favorability toward Israel has dropped 26 points, compared with a 12-point increase in their favorability toward the Palestinian Territories.
Among Democrats, the Palestinian Territories have held an edge in favorability since 2025. This year, 48% of Democrats view the Palestinian Territories favorably, compared with 34% for Israel, broadly in line with last year. Republicans remain the most pro-Israel partisan group, with 69% holding a favorable view, though that figure has fallen 15 points from 2025 to its lowest level in over two decades. Meanwhile, a steady 18% of Republicans view the Palestinian Territories favorably, recovering from a record low of 5% in 2024.
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Support for Palestinian State Matches 23-Year High
A 57% majority of U.S. adults say they favor the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel — often referred to as a “two-state solution” — while 28% oppose it and 15% do not have an opinion. Public opinion on this question has shifted less over recent years than sympathies or favorable ratings. The 57% who favor a two-state solution in 2026 is similar to the 55% recorded in both 2023 and 2025, and it nearly matches the record-high 58% of Americans who favored the creation of an independent Palestinian state in 2003.
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Support for a two-state solution is highest among Democrats, at 77%, and a majority of independents (57%) share that view. Both figures are generally in line with what Gallup has measured since 2023.
Republican support has fluctuated notably in recent years. It declined from 43% before the Oct. 7 attacks to 26% afterward — the largest single-year drop recorded for any party group on this measure. Support then increased to 41% in 2025 before declining again to 33% in 2026.
With the exception of 2024, the current 44-point gap between Democrats and Republicans is the widest Gallup has recorded on this question.
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U.S. adults remain much more supportive of a two-state solution than Israelis or Palestinians themselves, as measured in Gallup’s World Poll. In 2025 polling, 27% of Israelis and 33% of Palestinians living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem said they would support such a proposal.
Bottom Line
U.S. public opinion toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has shifted in the past 12 months, and for the first time in Gallup’s annual measurement since 2001, Americans’ sympathies no longer lie more with the Israelis than the Palestinians. This shift reflects substantial movement among independents, now joining Democrats in expressing more sympathy for the Palestinian people.
At the same time, Americans still have a more favorable view of Israel, as a country, than of the Palestinian Territories, though views of Israel are among the least favorable Gallup has measured historically. Meanwhile, views of the Palestinian Territories are the most positive to date, albeit still negative overall.
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