Neutrality Kills: Implications and Ideological Profiles of Ambivalence and Indifference Toward the Palestine-Israel “Conflict” in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election

Using the 2024 ANES Time Series Study (N = 5,203), the present research investigated the political attitudes and behaviors, and the ideological profiles of U.S. people who took neutral stances on the Palestine-Israel “conflict.” Americans who held ambivalent (i.e., sided with both Israelis and Palestinians) and indifferent (i.e., sided with neither party) stances demonstrated policy-related attitudes in ways that did not align with the Palestinian cause, and were more comparable to pro-Israeli than to pro-Palestinian participants. Ambivalent and indifferent people were less likely to vote for pro-Palestinian presidential candidates (Cornel West or Jill Stein) and more likely to vote for Trump, compared with pro-Palestinian participants. Finally, we reveal the ideological profiles of ambivalent and indifferent people based on egalitarianism, moral traditionalism, racial resentment, and nationalism. These findings advance the psychology of neutrality in the context of systemic oppression.