Poll: Half of American public favors independent Palestinian state

Support for an independent Palestinian state has been edging upward each year since 2015 when it stood at 42%. The highest level of support — 58% — was reached in May 2003, at a time when Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had endorsed a peace plan calling for a Palestinian state within three years…

Republicans (33%) and Democrats (62%) also differ significantly in their support for the establishment of an independent Palestine, but that has not always been the case. There was little difference between Republican and Democratic support for Palestinian independence in 2002 and 2003 — a time of intensive international negotiations during the Republican administration of George W. Bush, that offered some hope that a permanent resolution to the conflict might be achieved. Since 2009, however, there has been a clear partisan gap, with a majority of Democrats supporting independence each of the nine times Gallup has asked the question, while Republicans have always been more likely to oppose it than support it.