Sharon Zhang
Truthout / February 27, 2026
This is a huge change from recent decades, when sympathy for Israelis had, at times, a 50-point lead.
For the first time in modern history, Gallup finds that the proportion of Americans who sympathize more with Palestinians has surpassed those who favour Israelis — a stark reflection of changing attitudes toward the top U.S. ally as it commits a live-streamed genocide in Gaza and wanton ethnic cleansing in the occupied West Bank.
Polling released Friday finds that 41 percent of Americans now say their sympathies lie more with Palestinians than Israelis, up from 32 percent in pre-genocide levels. Meanwhile, sympathy for Israelis has plummeted amid the genocide to a mere 30 percent, down from 49 percent in Gallup’s last poll prior to October 7, 2023.
Those who claim equal sympathies, no affiliation, or no opinion remained roughly the same in this year’s poll, Gallup found.
This is a drastic change from the past decades, when sympathy for Israelis dominated the American public. Between 2001 and 2020, the proportion of respondents who said they sympathize more with Israelis hovered around 55 to 60 percent, while favourability with Palestinians was roughly 15 to 20 percent.
The flip comes as independents’ sympathies have shifted, also reflecting more sympathy for Palestinians over Israelis for the first time. Even among Republicans, the proportion of who say they favour Israelis more has hit a 20-year low, at 70 percent.
Much of the change, however, has been driven by changing sentiment among Democrats — even as the stances of Democratic politicians lags far behind.
Democratic voters first flipped on the issue in 2023, with Gallup polling conducted before the genocide finding that sympathy for Palestinians gained an 11-point lead over Israelis that year, rising to 49 percent. At the time, Israel was already accelerating attacks against Palestinians, killing a record number of Palestinians in the previous year in the occupied West Bank. (Israel then surpassed that record in 2023.)
Now, 65 percent of Democrats say that they sympathize more with Palestinians than with Israelis, with a mere 17 percent saying the opposite.
Meanwhile, the percentage of people who say they have a very or mostly favourable view of Israel has dropped to a historic low of 46 percent, while the percentage of people who say the same of the occupied Palestinian territories is at a record high of 37 percent.
The rise in sympathies for Palestinians rose over last year despite the “ceasefire” agreement largely pushing Gaza out of the news — even as Palestinians and advocacy groups warn that the genocide is still ongoing. Now, the Trump administration is pushing plans to build a high tech dystopia on the ruins of the genocide and attempting to use Trump’s “Board of Peace” to replace the UN altogether.
Israel’s declining popularity, meanwhile, comes as the U.S. may be entering a war with the state against Iran. Israel has been urging the U.S. to help it wage war against Iran for decades.
But the prospect of military action against Iran is, too, unpopular. Polling conducted last week by The Economist/Yougov found that only 27 percent of Americans support military action in Iran, while 49 percent oppose the idea.
Sharon Zhang is a news writer at Truthout covering politics, climate and labour
