Israel Matzav

Wow! Brown 46.5 - Obama 44.6 in Zogby/Newsmax poll

A Zogby/Newsmax poll has found that Senator Scott Brown (R-Ma) would defeat President Obama if the election were held today. The margin - 46.5% for Brown v. 44.6% for Obama - is slightly more than the 1.5% margin of error in the poll.

The survey's real message is that President Obama appears politically vulnerable, Larry J. Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, told Newsmax.

"I’ve seen other candidates essentially tie Obama in other surveys, including Mike Huckabee," Sabato said. "It’s really more about Obama’s weakness as he begins his second year, than any Republican’s strength."

Obama "has developed real problems with independents," Sabato said, adding that that could change, if the economy strengthens considerably by 2012.

Some pundits are calling for the administration to undertake a mid-course correction and tack to the political center to regain momentum.

Of course, Brown would want to have at least two years of experience in the Senate before he launches a Presidential campaign. Hey - that works out perfectly.

Arutz Sheva adds:

Jewish and non-Jewish support for President Obama’s Middle East policies has fallen sharply since his “reaching out to the Muslim world” speech in Cairo last June, when he called Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria “illegitimate’ as well as illegal. He also called for Israel to halt all building for Jews in the same region as well as in eastern Jerusalem.

...

Senator-elect Brown’s position paper on Israel states, "I stand steadfastly behind Israel's right to defend itself against attacks from state and non-state actors alike. I oppose the rising tide of efforts worldwide aimed at undermining this fundamental right. The United Nations' commissioned Goldstone Report is a blatant manifestation of such an effort. Deeply flawed from the start, the 'report' accuses Israel of war crimes with little reference to the fact that Israel held its fire for years while thousand of rockets were fired at innocent civilians.

"I also firmly support the security barrier erected by Israel which has proven to be enormously successful at defending and protecting Israeli civilians against waves of deadly terrorist attacks… I unequivocally support the recently executed ten-year memorandum of understanding between the United States and Israel which will provide $30 billion in military aid to Israel until 2017."

The Republican senator backs the "two-state solution” that calls for turning the Palestinian Authority into an independent state, but only on condition that it is “premised on security for Israel and is not imposed by outside parties, recognizes that a strict return to the 1967 borders is both unrealistic and unsafe and reaffirms Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the State of Israel.”

Concerning Iran, he has stated that it “represents the biggest threat to Israel. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a Holocaust denier who has threatened to wipe Israel off the map. Meeting with him confers legitimacy when the only correct response is to treat him as an outcast.” His Democratic opponent in the senatorial contest backed a meeting with the Iranian president.

"A personal meeting with Ahmadinejad, as suggested by my opponent, would embolden him and be used as a propaganda tool to strengthen his position,” Brown said.

Yes, Scott Brown is very pro-Israel.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:55 PM