{"id":73460,"date":"2016-05-16T12:00:21","date_gmt":"2016-05-16T11:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=73460"},"modified":"2016-05-12T15:01:40","modified_gmt":"2016-05-12T14:01:40","slug":"support-for-palestinians-triples-among-us-youth-survey-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2016\/05\/support-for-palestinians-triples-among-us-youth-survey-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Support for Palestinians Triples among US Youth, Survey Finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

5 May 2016 – <\/em>If you look at the headline numbers, Israel should not have too much to worry about: 54 percent of Americans sympathize more with Israel, while 19 percent sympathize more with the Palestinians.<\/p>\n

About 17 percent say they stand with neither or equally with both.<\/p>\n

Strong public support is seen by Israel backers as an essential guarantee that the US will remain Israel\u2019s biggest financier and arms supplier<\/a> long into the future.<\/p>\n

These numbers come from a new national survey<\/a> by the Pew Research Center.<\/p>\n

According to Pew, the number of Americans sympathizing with the Palestinians has gone up by five percentage points since July 2014 \u2013 the beginning of Israel\u2019s 51-day assault on Gaza<\/a> that killed more than 2,200 people, including 551 children.<\/p>\n

Pew calls that a \u201cmodest\u201d increase \u2013 though across the country it would represent millions of people changing their views.<\/p>\n

But dig deeper into the findings and it is apparent that Israel\u2019s support is eroding in key sectors of the US population.<\/p>\n

Virtually all of the increase in sympathy for Palestinians \u201chas come among Democrats, especially liberal Democrats,\u201d Pew states.<\/p>\n

\"liberals<\/a>

Fewer than half of Democrats now say they are more sympathetic to Israel (Pew Research Center)<\/p><\/div>\n

The number of liberal Democrats sympathizing more with the Palestinians has nearly doubled over the past two years, from 21 to 40 percent.<\/p>\n

And within the Democratic Party, it is clear that Hillary Clinton<\/a> is the candidate of the more pro-Israel wing: 47 percent of her supporters say they sympathize with Israel more, while 27 percent lean toward the Palestinians.<\/p>\n

Among the supporters of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders<\/a>, however, a plurality \u2013 39 percent \u2013 are more favorable to the Palestinians, while just a third stand with Israel.<\/p>\n

Partisan gap<\/strong><\/p>\n

Clinton\u2019s backers are clearly more pro-Israel, but it is still remarkable to note that this group is under 50 percent \u2013 an indication of how much opinions about Palestine and the Israeli question are shifting within the support base of the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n

The Pew survey confirms the extent to which Israel has become a partisan issue.<\/p>\n

Overall, just 43 percent of Democrats are more sympathetic to Israel, while 29 percent back the Palestinians.<\/p>\n

In contrast to the Democrats, \u201coverwhelming shares of [Republican] voters side with Israel, regardless of which candidate they support,\u201d Pew states<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Republican support for Israel \u2013 at around 75 percent \u2013 varied little among supporters of former presidential candidates Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich compared with those of presumptive nominee Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Just seven percent of Republicans were more favorable to the Palestinians.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been tracking this question since the 1970s and this gap is relatively new, of Republicans being more sympathetic to Israel than Democrats,\u201d Carroll Doherty, Pew\u2019s director of research, told NPR\u2019s Morning Edition<\/em><\/a> on Thurdsay. \u201cThe gap is now as wide as we\u2019ve ever seen it \u2013 it\u2019s almost 35 percentage points.\u201d<\/p>\n

Younger and more pro-Palestinian<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Generation<\/a>

Generation gap: support for Palestinians has risen fastest among Millennials. (Pew Research Center)<\/p><\/div>\n

The findings also confirm that support for the Palestinians is rising fastest among the young \u2013 the so-called Millennials born after 1980.<\/p>\n

\u201cCurrently, 43 percent of Millennials report sympathizing more with Israel, while 27 percent are more sympathetic to the Palestinians,\u201d Pew states<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe share sympathizing with the Palestinians has risen significantly in recent years, from nine percent in 2006 to 20 percent in July 2014 to 27 percent today\u201d \u2013 in other words it has tripled.<\/p>\n

Among Baby Boomers \u2013 those born between 1946 and 1964 \u2013 61 percent are more pro-Israel, while just 14 percent back the Palestinians.<\/p>\n

These findings bode well for supporters of Palestinian rights.<\/p>\n

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner for her party\u2019s presidential nomination, has adopted some of the most extreme anti-Palestinian rhetoric<\/a> heard in recent years.<\/p>\n

This may work well with her generally older supporters, with pro-Israel billionaires<\/a> who bankroll her campaign, as well as with Republican voters she will be hoping to lure if she faces Trump in the general election, but the numbers show she\u2019s more out of step than ever with her own party\u2019s base.<\/p>\n

Her repeated denunciations of BDS \u2013 boycott, divestment and sanctions \u2013 are likely to alienate even more of the younger generation who believe that fighting for social justice everywhere includes Palestine.<\/p>\n

Whatever happens in the 2016 presidential election, the United States has never been more fertile ground to build support for Palestinian rights.<\/p>\n

______________________________________________<\/p>\n

Ali Abunimah – <\/em>Co-founder of <\/em>The Electronic Intifada and author of <\/em>The Battle for Justice in Palestine<\/a>, now out from Haymarket Books, and of <\/em>One Country: A Bold-Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 electronicintifada.net<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Join the<\/em><\/strong> BDS-BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS <\/em><\/strong>campaign<\/em><\/strong><\/span> to protest the Israeli barbaric siege of Gaza, illegal occupation of the Palestine nation\u2019s territory, the apartheid wall, its inhuman and degrading treatment of the Palestinian people, and the more than 7,000 Palestinian men, women, elderly and children arbitrarily locked up in Israeli prisons.<\/p>\n

DON’T BUY<\/strong> PRODUCTS WHOSE<\/strong> BARCODE<\/strong> STARTS WITH<\/strong> 729<\/strong>, which indicates that it is produced in Israel.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

7 2 9: BOYCOTT FOR JUSTICE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cCurrently, 43 percent of Millennials, born after 1980, report sympathizing more with Israel, while 27 percent are more sympathetic to the Palestinians,\u201d Pew states. \u201cThe share sympathizing with the Palestinians has risen significantly in recent years, from nine percent in 2006 to 20 percent in July 2014 to 27 percent today\u201d \u2013 in other words it has tripled. Among Baby Boomers \u2013 those born between 1946 and 1964 \u2013 61 percent are more pro-Israel, while just 14 percent back the Palestinians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anglo-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73460\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}