More than one in four Americans say they couldn't be friends with someone who takes what they think is the wrong side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
That includes 12% of Americans who say they couldn't be friends with someone who supports Israel, and 22% who say they couldn't be friends with people who support Palestine. That's according to a recent YouGov survey asking if people agree or disagree with more than a dozen statements about the conflict, including several about friendship.
This feeling is particularly strong among people on one side of the conflict. 41% of people who sympathize more with the Israelis say they couldn't be friends with a Palestine supporter, while 43% who sympathize more with the Palestinians say they couldn't be friends with an Israel supporter.
Among Americans who sympathize with both sides equally, 11% say they couldn't be friends with a Palestine supporter and 12% with an Israel supporter.
More controversial than either the Israeli or Palestinian cause is the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Half of all Americans say they couldn't be friends with a Hamas supporter, including 71% of Israeli sympathizers, 32% of Palestinian sympathizers, and 52% who sympathize with both sides equally.
— Carl Bialik contributed to this article
See the results for this YouGov poll
Methodology: The YouGov poll was conducted online on October 16 - 19, 2023 among 1,000 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel using sample matching. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given prior to November 1, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (33% Democratic, 31% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
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