Do Americans sympathize with Israelis or Palestinians? Poll results break record

American public opinion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has shifted dramatically since the war began in Gaza, with voter sympathies more evenly divided than ever before, according to new polling.

In the latest Quinnipiac University poll, respondents were asked whether they sympathized more with Israelis or Palestinians. A plurality, 37%, said Israelis, while 32% said Palestinians. Meanwhile, nearly a third, 31%, expressed no opinion.

These figures mark a record-high share of support for Palestinians, and a record-low level of support for Israelis since the polling organization started asking voters this question in 2001.

By comparison, in a November 2023 Quinnipiac poll, 54% of respondents empathized more with Israelis, while 24% sided with Palestinians. And, in October 2023, this divide was even more pronounced: 61% vs. 13%.

The latest poll — which sampled 1,265 voters June 5-9 — comes as Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza continues raging despite attempts from President Donald Trump’s administration to broker a peace deal.

The conflict began after Hamas militants invaded Israeli on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people — including hundreds of young people at a music festival — and taking about 250 more hostage, Israeli officials said.

In response, Israel began a yearslong attack on Gaza, resulting in the deaths of about 55,000 Palestinians, many of whom are women and children, according to Gaza health officials. The U.N. has warned that a blockade on the Palestinian enclave, which is home to some 2.1 million people, is putting many on the brink of starvation.

“With no end to the Israel-Gaza conflict in sight, Israel’s standing with voters slips significantly,” Tim Malloy, a Quinnipiac polling analyst, said in the poll.

Partisan breakdown

Opinions on the Middle Eastern conflict are heavily divided based on partisanship, found the poll, which has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.

The vast majority of Republicans, 64%, said they sided more with Israelis, while just 7% sided with Palestinians.

Meanwhile, the reverse was true for Democrats, with 60% expressing more sympathy for Palestinians, and 12% showing more sympathy for Israelis.

Twenty-nine percent of both groups offered no opinion.

Independents were more split, with 38% siding with Israelis and 30% siding with Palestinians. Thirty-one percent had no opinion.

Confidence in a cease-fire

Voters were also asked about the possibility of the war being drawn to a close in the short term.

Just 17% said they were either very or somewhat confident that “Israel and Hamas will agree to a permanent cease fire in the near future.”

Meanwhile, the vast majority, 77%, said they are not so confident or not confident at all.

More than twice as many Republicans (24%) expressed confidence that a ceasefire can be reached than Democrats (11%). Independents fell somewhere in the middle (18%).

A temporary cease-fire was reached in January, but it ended in March, after spanning 42 days.

In early June, Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bring the war to a close, an unnamed source told CNN.

This story was originally published June 12, 2025 at 9:32 AM with the headline "Do Americans sympathize with Israelis or Palestinians? Poll results break record."