Changing American Public Attitudes On Israel/Palestine: Does It Matter For Politics? -POMEPS.ORG

This article by Shibley Telhami exams public attitudes toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Telhami makes several interesting observations, the most notable being:

“The most important change taking place in American public attitudes toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over the past decade has been increased partisanship on an issue that had historically escaped a high level of partisanship. In my 30 years of conducting public opinion polls on this issue, it has always been the case that a large majority of Americans, around two-thirds, wanted the U.S. to take neither side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That has not changed.[1]What has changed over the past decade has been that Republicans have expressed increased desire for the U.S. to take Israel’s side instead of being neutral, with our recent polls showing a slight majority of Republicans choosing that option. In fact, in our September 2019 poll*, 64% of Republicans responded this way. In contrast, more and more Democrats, 80% in September 2019, have supported neutrality, with those wanting the U.S. to take sides roughly evenly divided between wanting to take the Palestinians’ side and wanting to take Israel’s (8% and 10%, respectively).”

Given the degree of polarization in American politics, perhaps this finding should not be surprising.

Telhami discusses his work further in this interview on youtube: