Democratic leaders may support a strong alliance with Israel, but a majority of Democratic voters don't agree. A Los Angeles Times/ Bloomberg poll released today found that nearly 60 percent of Americans support Israel in the current conflict. But underneath that number, there is a significant partisan divide.
The poll results suggested that the Middle East conflict could have domestic political consequences in the 2006 midterm elections and beyond, due in part to a growing partisan divide over Israel and its relationship with the United States. Republicans generally expressed stronger support for Israel, while Democrats tended to believe the United States should play a more neutral role in the region. Overall, 50% of the survey's respondents said the United States should continue to align with Israel, compared with 44% who backed a more neutral posture. But the partisan gap was clear: Democrats supported neutrality over alignment, 54% to 39%, while Republicans supported alignment with the Jewish state 64% to 29%.