For more than two decades, one number barely moved. In survey after survey, Americans said they sympathized more with Israel than with the Palestinians in the long-running conflict. That pattern has now broken.

For the first time since Gallup began asking the question more than 20 years ago, more Americans say they sympathize with the Palestinians than with Israelis, according to a new poll released Friday.

Overall, 41 percent of Americans say their sympathies lie more with the Palestinians, compared to 36 percent who say they side with Israel. The remaining respondents say they are undecided or sympathize with both sides or neither.

The five-point gap is not statistically significant. But symbolically, it marks a striking shift. Just one year ago, Israel held a 13-point advantage in American sympathies, 46 percent to 33 percent.

The change reflects a sharp partisan divide and a notable shift among independents.

Republicans remain firmly in Israel’s camp. In the latest poll, 70 percent of Republicans say they sympathize more with Israel, compared to far smaller shares backing the Palestinians. Still, that support has slipped by 10 percentage points over the past decade, suggesting a gradual erosion even within the GOP’s traditionally pro-Israel base.

Democrats, by contrast, overwhelmingly side with the Palestinians. Sixty-five percent of Democrats say they sympathize more with the Palestinian people, while just 17 percent say they side with Israel — a dramatic inversion of historic party alignments from previous decades.

Independents appear to be driving the overall shift. Among voters who do not identify with either major party, sympathies tilt toward the Palestinians by 11 percentage points.

The numbers underscore how the Middle East conflict has become one of the most polarized foreign policy issues in American politics. What was once a broad bipartisan consensus in favor of Israel has fractured along partisan lines, reshaping public opinion in ways that would have been difficult to imagine even a decade ago.

While the margin in this year’s poll falls within the survey’s statistical bounds, the directional change is unmistakable. For the first time in the modern polling era, Israel no longer holds the upper hand in American sympathies.

Whether the shift proves temporary or signals a lasting realignment in U.S. public opinion remains to be seen.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)