WASHINGTON – Americans across the political spectrum have less favourable opinions of both Israel and the Palestinian Authority after the onset of the Israeli-Hamas war in 2023, a Gallup survey has found.

Overall, 58 per cent of Americans surveyed have a positive view of Israel, down 10 percentage points since 2023 and the lowest favourable rating in more than two decades.

Views of the Palestinian Authority declined 8 points to 18 per cent, the lowest in nearly a decade.

Still, United States sympathies in the Middle East are largely unchanged, with Americans largely taking the side of Israel by a ratio of almost two to one.

At least one demographic bucks that trend. For the first time, Americans under 35 were more likely to say they sympathised with Palestinian Arabs rather than Israelis.

That shift follows the outbreak of war in October 2023, when Hamas – designated a terrorist group by the US and European Union – launched a surprise attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Israel has retaliated with a five-month air and ground war in Gaza, with a one-week truce in November for a hostage-for-prisoner exchange.

The war has reverberated across Western politics, fracturing key constituencies, including young voters and Muslims, in centre-left parties.

It has been a particular problem for President Joe Biden, as 13 per cent of Democrats in the crucial swing state of Michigan – home to a significant number of Arab-American voters – registered a protest vote for “uncommitted” in a primary election last week.

Mr Biden is also facing increasing pressure from within his party to broker a ceasefire in the war.

The poll showed 53 per cent of respondents support the creation of an independent Palestinian state, though Republicans were more likely to oppose it.

The Gallup poll of 1,016 US adults was conducted on Feb 1 to 20 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. BLOOMBERG