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Bernie’s comments expressing criticism of Israeli defense policy may prove politically costly. Although the crowd in New York expressed cheers, national opinion polling suggests that more Americans sympathize with Israel than the Palestinians, writes Mona Chalabi.

In March 2015, a Pew Research Center study found that 31% of US respondents sympathized with Israel a lot in its dispute with the Palestinians while just 11% sympathize a great deal with the Palestinians.

Those attitudes look very different however depending on an individual’s political identification. Sanders is no doubt resonating with the more left of center strand of Democrat supporters given that 68% of liberal Democrats have at least some sympathy for the Palestinians compared to just 45% of individuals who describe themselves as conservative or moderate Democrats.