[Elder of Ziyon] Americans continue to sympathize far more with Israel

From Pew Research:

For decades, the public has sympathized with Israel over the Palestinians and that remains the case today. Overall, 50% say they sympathize more with Israel, compared with just 10% who say they sympathize more with the Palestinians; almost a quarter (23%) do not offer an opinion while 13% volunteer that they sympathize with neither side, and 4% say both.

Attitudes on this question have been stable over the past six years, after showing more volatility in the middle of the last decade.

There continue to be stark partisan differences in Middle East sympathies. Conservative Republicans maintain strong support for Israel with fully 75% saying they sympathize with Israel compared with just 2% who sympathize with the Palestinians. By contrast, liberal Democrats are much more divided: 33% sympathize more with Israel, 22% with the Palestinians. Independents sympathize more with Israel by a 47% to 13% margin.

Among religious groups, white evangelical Protestants remain strongly supportive of Israel. Two-thirds (67%) say they sympathize more with Israel; only 5% say they sympathize more with the Palestinians. Opinion among other religious groups is more mixed. Catholics, for example, offer more sympathy for Israel than the Palestinians by a 44% to 11% margin.

There also are age differences in Mideast sympathies. About four-in-ten (38%) people younger than 30 sympathize more with Israel than the Palestinians. That is only slightly lower than the percentage of 30-49 year olds who sympathize with Israel (46%). However, more than half of those 50 and older (58%) sympathize with Israel more than the Palestinians. Age differences were more modest in 2011 and 2010.

Note that even the one group that was least sympathetic to Israel, liberal Democrats, shows that they are 50% more likely to sympathize with Israel than with the Palestinian Arabs.

And moderate Democrats were more sympathetic to Israel by nearly a 6-1 margin. Not the 37-1 of conservatives, but still very pro-Israel.

This must drive the haters completely bananas. Their shrillness gives the impression that they are mainstream, but they don't represent US liberals any more than Neturei Karta represent Jews.

I would love to see how J-Street members would answer the questions.




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Posted By Elder of Ziyon to Elder of Ziyon at 12/14/2012 01:30:00 PM