Using the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and sports, researchers found that people tend to support underdogs. See the full report (pdf format).
Daled Amos summarizes and comments:
When Israel was portrayed as larger:
• 70% saw Palestinians as the underdog
• But only 53% were more supportive of the Palestinians
• There was a little more sympathy toward the Palestinians (3.77 vs. 3.73)When Israel was portrayed as small on the map:
• 62.1% saw Israel as the underdog
• But 76.7% were more supportive of Israel
• There was more sympathy towards Israel (4.00 vs. 3.30)–especially compared to Palestinians when they were perceived as the underdog.Apparently being the underdog isn’t everything–terrorism and corruption does seem to take a toll. The study also concluded that opinions about Israel and the Palestinians were “malleable,” which may mean that the damage done by Israel’s lackluster attempt at Hasbarah may not be permanent.
