Less than half of Spaniards support the recognition of Palestine

It is certainly a low figure, taking into account that the vast majority of parties in our country, including the two dominant parties (PP and PSOE) and all left-wing and independentist parties, agree on the essence of this measure, but not on the form of Sánchez, who has promoted it with hardly any support outside of him and in the European Union. Something that is not unrelated to the fact that more than half of citizens are evenly divided between those who are directly against (25%) and those who do not speak out or are indifferent (26.7%).

Also evident in this case are the divisions between ideological blocs. More than 80% of Sumar, Podemos and nationalist voters agree with the recognition of Palestine, which they themselves demanded from Sánchez even before the declaration of war against Israel on 7 October, following the terrorist attacks and mass kidnappings by Hamas. In the case of the Socialists, support for a Palestinian state drops slightly, but remains unquestionable, as three out of four (76%) agree.

Among right-wing voters the opposite opinion prevails, but is more restrained. Nearly half of the supporters of Vox (49%) and the PP (44%) reject the measure, which, not in vain, has also become a weapon used between the government and the opposition. Only a little over 20% of those who voted for Feijoo and Abascal support them.

They don’t even reach 60% Spaniards who declare themselves in favour of the Sánchez government sending military material to Ukraine. The survey was carried out between Monday and Thursday this week. Therefore, it started on the same day that Moncloa first leaked and then announced a shipment of up to 1,000 million euros worth of weapons to Kiev.

arms to ukraine

As ABC reported then, also this Tuesday and as it exclusively expands today with more details, that budget item is one that the Council of Ministers approved in mid-April to alleviate the shortage of resources suffered by the Spanish Armed Forces, but Sánchez decided to allocate it entirely to Ukraine without informing Parliament or even his government partners, as recognized first by the minister and spokesman for Sumar, Ernest Urtasan, and then by the second vice president, Yolanda Díaz.

This ambiguity partly explains why one in four Spaniards (24.4%) are against the Sánchez government helping Ukraine with arms amid the Russian aggression and a further 16% do not care or do not speak out.

Opposing position

And, as is the case with many issues in national politics, the situation is very different even when the EU’s borders are invaded by a regime such as Putin’s for more than two years.

The most in favor of helping Ukraine are PP voters (80%), followed by PSOE voters (68%). Much more reluctant are from both extremes, which also touch each other in this matter, as half of the followers are Matches Sumar (52%) and Vox (50%) Those most opposed are those from Podemos, half of whom (48%) reject it and only 8% agree. One in three Vox, Sumar and nationalist voters also do not want Spain to send arms or defense materials to Kiev.

Data Sheet

Universe: The general population over the age of 18 has the right to vote

Limit: National

Process: Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI)

sample size: 1,005 interviews (467 landlines and 538 mobiles)

Sampling error: ± 3.2 (n=1,005) for a confidence level of 95.5% (two sigma) and the most unlikely hypothesis of P=Q=0.5 under the assumption of simple random sampling

Duration of interview: 4 minutes

Dates: 27-30 May, 2024

Institute: GAD3 (Calle Alcalá 75, 28009-Madrid)