A new poll published on Thursday revealed that, for the first time, American Democrats sympathize with Palestinians more than Israelis.

The poll, conducted by the US-based analytics and advisory company Gallop, found that Democrats’ “sympathies in the Middle East now lie more with the Palestinians than the Israelis, 49% versus 38%,” adding that:

“Today’s attitudes reflect an 11-percentage-point increase over the past year in Democrats’ sympathy with the Palestinians. At the same time, the percentages sympathizing more with the Israelis (38%) and those not favoring a side (13%) have dipped to new lows.”

The poll findings show that “sympathy toward the Palestinians is also at a new high among political independents, up six points to 32%. However, more independents still lean toward the Israelis (49%).”

“The resulting 23-point gap in Americans’ sympathy for Israel versus the Palestinians represents Israel’s slimmest advantage on this question in Gallup’s World Affairs poll trend. It is also the first time Israel has not enjoyed a better than 2-to-1 advantage over the Palestinians in Americans’ sympathies,” it added.

Providing an explanation for these changes in public opinion, the poll said that “the most consequential changes in public opinion on this question have occurred in the past five years, as support for the Palestinians has ticked up and support for Israel as well as ambivalence about the conflict have each declined.”

(WAFA, PC)