Democrats are nearly six times more likely to side with Ukraine over Russia than they are to support Israelis over Palestinians, according to the results of a new survey of U.S. adult citizens regarding the two conflicts.
The national survey, conducted July 18-21 by The Economist/YouGov, included two questions:
While 81% of adult Democrats said they sympathize more with Ukraine than Russia – nearly six times the 14% who said they sympathize more with the Israelis than with the Palestinians.
Among all U.S. adults, however, 31% said they sided more with the Israelis, more than twice the percent of the Democrats in the survey who said they sympathized more with the Israelis. Less than a quarter (23%) of all U.S. citizens said they sympathized more with the Palestinians, compared to nearly four in ten (38%) Democrats.
More Republicans sided with the Israelis rather than the Palestinians by a large margin (53%-8%), while Independents did so by a slight majority (27%-24%).
Young adults were far more likely than older Americans to sympathize with the Palestinians. Fully 44% of 18-29 year-olds voiced preference for the Palestinians, compared to just 14% of those 65 and over.
Since the 18-29 category includes college age citizens, results at least partially reflect the influence of the anti-Israel, pro-Palestine protests taking place at campuses across the U.S.
Conversely, support for Israel rises steadily by age group, from 14% of those 18-29 to 47% of adults at least 65 years old.
Regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Americans are somewhat more united in their support of Ukraine, as just 2% of Democrats, 5% of Republicans and 5% of Independents said they sympathize more with Russia. But, Republicans and Independents were more likely to say they either were “not sure” who they supported more or that they supported “neither” side.
Differences among age groups were also less pronounced, as 59% of those in both the 18-29 and 30-44 cohorts, 65% of 45-64 year-olds and 77% of those at least 65 said they favor Ukraine.
