Rasmussen: US support for Israel weak among Dems, women, blacks
This afternoon, I had to go somewhere in the country's central region. I had the radio going for much of the 45-minute long drive, during which I was hearing live reports from a site in Ashdod where a Katyusha Grad rocket had destroyed the eighth (top) floor penthouses of an apartment building and was threatening to collapse the entire building (picture at top left).That got me to thinking about how coverage of the events in Gaza is different in Israel than it is elsewhere in the world and in light of the survey I am going to present in this post, it got me to thinking about how I might do my part in changing it.
The coverage of what's going on here is very different in our own media than anyplace else. Here, most of the air time is taken up with announcing in what areas (without being too specific) rockets have hit and what damage has been sustained. In the rest of the world, all you are hearing is what the air force is doing in Gaza. The message that Israel's actions in Gaza are responsive is not getting out. The world has the idea that the 'crude' rockets being shot by the 'Palestinians' do not cause and could never cause damage, let alone loss of life. It's time to change that idea and I aim to do my part in bringing about that change.
A Rasmussen survey issued on Thursday ought to give pause to those who are attempting to shape world opinion in favor of Israel. The survey found that Americans - our best friends in the world - are closely divided over supporting Israel's current action against Hamas, with support being especially weak among Democrats and women (Hat Tip: Infidel Bloggers Alliance).
Forty-four percent (44%) say Israel should have taken military action against the Palestinians, but 41% say it should have tried to find a diplomatic solution to the problems there, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Fifteen percent (15%) are undecided.Well, someone needs to tell Rasmussen that Jerusalem is Israel's capital, but there's really no way to argue with the rest of it. It appears that we're doing much better among those who actually follow the news than we are doing among the sound-byte crowd. The problem is that it's difficult to shape the sound-byte crowd's opinions, because they overwhelmingly come from the MSM, which, as always, is against us. And most of the US is part of the sound byte crowd.
Fifty-five percent (55%) of adults, however, believe the Palestinians are to blame for the current situation in Gaza, while 13% point the finger at the Israelis. Nearly one-third (32%) aren’t sure.
Men are far more sympathetic to the Israelis than women. Fifty-six percent (56%) of men support Israel’s military action, compared to 34% of women. Whites narrowly give the edge to military action, but African-Americans by three-to-one say diplomacy was the better way to go.
Sixty-seven percent (67%) of those who say they are following news out of Gaza Very Closely support Israel's military action, while 30% favor diplomacy.
While the Bush administration is viewed as a solid ally of Israel, the new findings signal a possible shift in Washington’s support for Tel Aviv under President Obama.
Thirty-five percent (35%) of Americans say they are following news stories about Israel’s military action in the Gaza Strip Very Closely, with another 41% saying they are following somewhat closely. Only four percent (4%) say they are not following the news at all.Not surprisingly - at least to me - Republicans favor Israel much more than Democrats.
Sixty-two percent (62%) of Republicans back Israel’s decision to take military action against the Palestinians, but only half as many Democrats (31%) agree. [But that won't stop the 'Judaism is liberalism' crowd from voting Democratic in the next election. CiJ] A majority of Democrats (55%) say Israel should have tried to find a diplomatic solution first, a view shared by just 27% of Republicans. ['Diplomatic solution'? What the heck have we been trying to do for the last 80 years? How many times have the Arabs - going back to before there was any such creature as a 'Palestinian' - said no? What 'diplomatic solution' do they think we can reach with Hamas? Do they know how Islam views 'diplomatic solutions'? CiJ]We also seem to have some problem among women and blacks.
While 75% of Republicans say Israel is an ally of the United States, just 55% of Democrats agree. Seven percent (7%) of Democrats say Israel is an enemy of America, but only one percent (1%) of Republicans say the same. For 21% of Republicans, Israel is somewhere in between, and 28% of Democrats agree.
Sixty-two percent (62%) of men say the Palestinians are to blame versus 48% of women. But women by five points also are less likely to blame the Israelis and are undecided on the question by nearly two-to-one.We Israelis need to do a lot more in terms of bringing home to the American people that living under constant rocket fire - whether it's occasional as it was for the last six months or frequent as it has been for the last two weeks - is dangerous, stressful and insufferable. We need to make them understand that government's first obligation is to protect its citizenry and that the Israeli government has made the only choice it could make to protect our well-being. Somehow, most Americans (including some who read this blog as you could see by some of the comments on this blog and by some of the emails I've received) just don't get it.
While 57% of whites blame the Palestinians, 53% of blacks are not sure who is at fault.
Seventy-three percent (73%) of Republicans blame the Palestinians, as opposed to 47% of Democrats.
And showing a few Ethiopian women as victims of missile attacks (and I am sure there are some) wouldn't hurt either.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:13 PM
4 Comments:
Don't expect much understanding or sympathy from the Left, their media, and their stupefied politicians and voters.
Anyone who knows anything about history or who pays attention to what is happening in the middle east support Israel.
Unfortunately, real history has been eliminated from our children's academic curricula.
About the only good thing happening these days is that the MSM, which is very anti-Israel and pro anyone who hates America and Israel is imploding. This sector of the society has lost all credibility, but it still exists.
One thing we can all do is write to our legislators and ensure that no bail outs are issued to news organizations. They are getting ready to line up at the trough.
If the MSM implodes due to lack of confidence, we will be better informed. And by this report, informed people support Israel.
This also indicates why it is so important to Academia to keep the population as dumb as possible. People who don't have enough information to make rational judgments are much easire to control and that is their goal.
Best regards,
Gail S
In regard to Gaza, I believe it helps to emphasize two points: (1) there is no issue of "occupied territory": Gaza is bordered by Israel and Egypt, and is not occupied by anyone, and (2) as Carl says in this post, the rocket fire from Gaza into Israel is real and ongoing. (Actually, the issue of Egypt is worth emphasizing as well: many people seem to think that Gaza is bordered only by Israel, who is strangling or blockading Gaza. In reality, Gaza also shares a border with Egypt, and Hamas is obviously hostile to Egypt as well. Not that I expect Egypt to do much good, but both Israel and Egypt do have this "shared problem" of Gaza.)
I completely support Israel's right to defend itself, meaning doing whatever is necessary to stop the rocket attacks. That does not mean proportionality in terms of number of deaths; the reason the number is so high on the Palestinian side is that fighters and leaders hide, deliberately leaving civilians exposed where weapons are stored, and near where rockets are fired from. We would absolutely respond the same way as the Israelis.
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