Democrats are narrowly divided on who they sympathize with more in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a new survey.
The national survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center and released on Tuesday, found that 27 percent of Democrats sympathize more with Israel, while 25 percent sympathize more with the Palestinians. Twenty-three percent of respondents said they sympathize with neither or both sides, and 25 percent said they do not know.
The results were similar to a Pew survey from last year, which showed that Democrats were divided over the Middle East conflict. Last year's survey found that 33 percent said they sympathized with Israel and 31 percent said the Palestinians.
"Since then, the share of Democrats saying they don't know has increased from 17 percent to 25 percent and the share saying they sympathize with both or neither has ticked up slightly from 19 percent to 23 percent," according to the Pew Research Center.
Back in 2016, Democrats were more likely to sympathize with Israel than with the Palestinians, compared to today.
"The share of liberal Democrats who sympathize more with Israel than the Palestinians has declined from 33 percent to 19 percent since 2016," Pew reported. "Currently, nearly twice as many liberal Democrats say they sympathize more with the Palestinians than with Israel (35 percent vs. 19 percent); 22 percent of liberal Democrats sympathize with both sides or neither side and 24 percent do not offer an opinion."
Republican support for Israel has remained steady.
This year's survey found that 79 percent of Republicans say they sympathize more with Israel, while six percent sympathize more with the Palestinians. Seven percent said both or neither, while 9 percent said they do not know.
Since 2016, about 81 percent of conservative Republicans and 70 percent of liberal Republicans continue to say they sympathize more with Israel than the Palestinians.
The partisan divide on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has grown in recent years.
"Since 2001, the share of Republicans sympathizing more with Israel than the Palestinians has increased 29 percentage points, from 50 percent to 79 percent," according to the Pew Research Center. "Over the same period, the share of Democrats saying this has declined 11 points, from 38 percent to 27 percent."
Overall, 46 percent of Americans said they sympathize more with the Israelis, 16 percent said they sympathize more with the Palestinians, and 38 percent either said their sympathies are with both (5 percent ), neither (14 percent), or that they do not know (19 percent).
The survey also found that Americans' views on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remain partisan. Fifty-two percent of Republicans said they have favorable impressions of Netanyahu, while only 18 percent of Democrats have a positive view of the prime minister. Thirty-nine percent of Democrats said they have an unfavorable view of Netanyahu, and only 15 percent of Republicans said they feel that way.
The nationwide survey was conducted from Jan. 10 to Jan. 15, among 1,503 adults.