A recent publication by the
Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life
indicates that American Evangelicals have a highly positive view of
Israel. This group is important both because it constitutes a large
share of the American population — about 26% — and because it provided
President George W. Bush with 40% of his total votes in the 2004
presidential election.
In June-July 2003, the Forum and the Pew Research Center
for The People & The Press conducted a joint nationwide survey of
Americans' views on religion, politics, and public policy. Concerning
Israel, people were asked...
whether they sympathized more with Israel or the Palestinians in
their longstanding dispute;
whether religious beliefs or other factors had the biggest
influence on their thinking on this issue;
whether they believed God gave the land that is now Israel to
the Jewish people;
whether they believed the state of Israel fulfills the biblical
prophecy about Jesus' second coming.
Compared to other Americans, the survey found that white
evangelical Protestants were...
significantly more sympathetic to Israel than to the
Palestinians — 55% sympathized more with Israel,
only 6% with the Palestinians (versus 41% and 13%, respectively, of
all those surveyed).
significantly more likely to say that religious beliefs were the
single biggest influence in leading them to sympathize more with
Israel — 46% versus 26% of all those surveyed.
significantly more likely to believe that God gave the land of
Israel to the Jews — 72% versus 44% of all those surveyed.
significantly more likely to believe that Israel fulfills the
biblical prophecy about Jesus' second coming — 63% versus 36% of all
those surveyed.
More recently, in March-May 2004, the Pew Forum on
Religion & Public Life sponsored a nationwide survey in which people
were asked: "Should the U.S. support Israel over the Palestinians?"
Unlike the questions in the 2003 survey, this one specifically asked
Americans what they think about U.S. policy towards Israel and the
Palestinians. The complete results are provided in the table below.
As the table indicates, Americans overall were fairly evenly
divided as to whether the U.S. should support Israel over the
Palestinians: 35% agreed, while 38% disagreed, with 27% expressing
no opinion.
If anything, slightly more Americans believe that the U.S. should
not support Israel over the Palestinians than believe that it
should.
As one would expect from the 2003 survey results, the picture is
dramatically different for white evangelical Protestants. Overall,
more than twice as many white evangelicals agreed that the U.S.
should support Israel over the Palestinians than disagreed: 52%
agreed, while 25% disagreed, with 23% expressing no opinion.
The survey also found that "traditionalist" evangelicals — who
are characterized by a high level of orthodox belief and a high
level of church attendance, and who are the largest subgroup of
evangelicals — are even more likely to agree that U.S. policy should
tilt towards Israel: 64% agreed, while 18% disagreed, with 18%
expressing no opinion. (According to a post-election analysis
sponsored by the Pew Forum, "traditionalist" evangelicals provided
Bush with 27% of his vote total in 2004.)
Pew Forum-sponsored surveys show that, between 2000 and 2004,
white evangelicals showed the greatest increase in support for
Israel of any religious group: up 14% since 2000, to 52%.
The survey found that white evangelicals are virtually the
mirror opposite of "secular" Americans in their attitudes towards
Israel: only 23% of seculars agree that the U.S. should support
Israel over the Palestinians, while 51% disagree, with 26%
expressing no opinion.
