Like the Middle East itself, America’s two political parties are unusually split over Israel, with Democrats abandoning their sympathy for the Jewish State and the GOP rallying around it.



A new Pew Research Center survey released Tuesday said that just 27 percent of Democrats “sympathize” with Israel over the rival Palestinians. That is a significant nearly 20 point drop in the last few years.

Some 79 percent of Republicans meanwhile favor Israel, nearly double their support from 20 years ago.

“The partisan divide in Middle East sympathies, for Israel or the Palestinians, is now wider than at any point since 1978,” said the survey.



One potential reason for the split is a divide over support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is friendly with President Trump but who former President Obama at times feuded with.

“The survey also finds that while Republicans and Democrats are deeply divided in views of Israel, so too do they differ markedly in opinions about Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister. Nearly three times as many Republicans (52 percent) as Democrats (18 percent) have favorable impressions of Israel’s leader,” said Pew.



Also nearly half of Democrats feel Trump favors Israel too much.

The poll comes as Vice President Pence is visiting Jerusalem. During his stop, he appeared to announce a speeded up plan to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem over Palestinian objections.

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com