Nearly two-thirds of white evangelical Protestants (64%) say helping to protect Israel should be a very important policy goal for the United States in the Middle East, compared with 34% of white mainline Protestants and 36% of white Catholics. Overall, just 39% say helping to protect Israel should be a very important policy goal of U.S. policy. A wide divide on this question also appears along partisan lines, although the main factor in this regard appears to be degree of conservatism rather than party preference. A minority of both Democrats (34%) and independents (36%) say helping to protect Israel should be a very important goal for U.S. policy in the Middle East. However, even fewer moderate Republicans (27%) share this view. By comparison, among conservative Republicans, 62% see helping to protect Israel as a top policy concern, more than double the proportion of moderate Republicans who say this. Read More

Russell Heimlich  is a former web developer at Pew Research Center.