American Opinions on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

More than four-in-five Americans (81%) agree the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has a negative impact on U.S. interests, including a majority of both Democrats (88%) and Republicans (77%), a new Arab American Institute/Zogby Interactive survey finds. 

While Americans agree the conflict has a negative impact, they are split about how to deal with the situation. Fifty percent of Americans agree the Obama Administration should steer a middle course in pursuing peace in the Middle East. There is a strong divide on this question with 73% of Democrats agreeing that the President should steer a middle course while only 24% of Republicans hold the same opinion.

These numbers are largely unchanged from a similar survey conducted in April of 2009. “Americans have made clear that ending the Israel-Palestinian conflict is important and negatively impacts U.S. interests, but the growing partisan divide over policy is worrisome” said Arab American Institute President James Zogby.
The poll of 2,471 Americans (940 Democrats, 765 Republicans, 692 Independents and 74 Not Sure) was conducted March 17 – March 19 by Zogby International. The margin of error is ± 2.0%.

Download the poll (PDF)