The American public’s support for Israel is not only stronger than ever, but steadily increasing, a recent poll shows.

According to a new Gallup poll published on Wednesday, the vast majority of Americans decisively supports Israel, with seven in 10 Americans sympathizing with the Jewish state.

Gallup’s annual World Affairs poll shows that a vast majority of Americans – 71 percent – views Israel favorably, and only 27 percent unfavorably.

This represents the fourth straight year that Israel’s favorable rating has been at 70 percent or higher.

This year’s survey found 29 percent viewing Israel very favorably, 42 percent mostly favorably, 21 percent mostly unfavorably and 6 percent very unfavorably. Just eight percent have no opinion on the Jewish state.

Israel enjoys a positive image among all major US demographic and political groups, but scores particularly well with Republicans, with 81 percent viewing it favorably as well as adults 65 and older (77 percent).

While 61 percent of Democrats view Israel favorably, it is the lowest majority of any major subgroup.

Growing US Opposition to Palestinian State

The poll, conducted via telephone interviews at the beginning of the month with a random sample of 1,035 adults, shows that Americans’ views about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are fluctuating.

The Gallup poll finds the American public closely split over the Palestinian demand for statehood. Currently, 45 percent of Americans support establishing an independent Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip, while 42 percent oppose it.

This follows years of significantly more Americans supporting rather than opposing Palestinian statehood.

Americans’ support for an independent Palestinian state is essentially unchanged from last year, but the percentage opposed is up five percentage points to 42 percent — the highest level seen in Gallup’s trend.

However, on a proportional basis, the latest results are similar to 2015, when 42 percent favored a Palestinian state and 38 percent were opposed. The main difference is that more Americans today have an opinion on the subject – 13 percent, have no opinion, as opposed to 20 percent in 2015.

As has long been the case, Democrats and Republicans have sharply differing views on the issue. Currently, 61 percent of Democrats, 50 percent of independents and 25% of Republicans are in favor.

From a longterm perspective, Democrats’ and independents’ views have been fairly steady, while support among Republicans has varied. Still, Republicans have been consistently less supportive than Democrats.

Similarly, “sympathies” are mostly with Israel, the poll shows.

The majority, 62 percent of Americans, say they sympathize more with the Israelis and only 19 percent with the Palestinians, similar to the past several years.

Another 19 percent express no preference, including five percent that say they sympathize with both equally, six percent who sympathize with neither and eight percent who have no opinion.

More members of all three party groups sympathize with Israel rather than with the Palestinians, but this ranges from 82 percent of Republicans to 57 percent of independents and 47 percent of Democrats. By contrast, 6 percent of Republicans, 23 percent of independents and 29 percent of Democrats sympathize more with the Palestinians.

The bottom line is that Americans continue to sympathize more with Israel than with the Palestinians and are now split over the merits of an independent Palestinian state. Much of this trend appears to be driven by Republicans, who show extraordinarily high support for Israel and — in contrast to Democrats — lean against Palestinian statehood.

By: United with Israel Staff