Israel Matzav: After the storm: Bibi's poll numbers improve (38 to 51%) but so do Barack's (from 9% to 12%) in Israel

Friday, May 27, 2011

After the storm: Bibi's poll numbers improve (38 to 51%) but so do Barack's (from 9% to 12%) in Israel

After last week's brushup between Prime Minister Netanyahu and US President Barack Hussein Obama, Netanyahu's poll numbers improved - but so did Obama's numbers in Israel. This is from Haaretz, Israel's Hebrew 'Palestinian' daily.

It's doubtful that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his wildest, most optimistic dreams, would have dared to imagine when he set off for the United States last week that Israelis would respond to his six-day trip so enthusiastically: According to a new Haaretz poll, they are giving the visit high marks, considering it an overwhelming success.

The poll, conducted by the Dialog organization, under the supervision of Prof. Camil Fuchs of the Tel Aviv University Statistics Department, showed that 47 percent of the Israeli public believes the U.S. trip was a success, while only 10 percent viewed it as a failure.

Nearly half of the public felt "pride" at seeing Netanyahu address the joint session of Congress on Tuesday, while only 5 percent deemed it a "missed opportunity." The rest expressed no opinion, while 20 percent of those questioned said they hadn't watched the speech.

Israelis also don't believe that U.S.-Israel relations have been harmed by the visit despite its attendant problems, tensions and disputes.

Some 27 percent of those polled said they believe relations between the two countries will actually improve as a result of the visit, while only 13 percent thought relations would deteriorate. Nearly half of those questioned don't think there will be any change.

From the poll, it emerged that Netanyahu's trip not only put a brake on the drop in his popularity ratings, but actually reversed the trend.

While in a Haaretz poll five weeks ago Netanyahu seemed to be in hot water with the public, with 38 percent expressing satisfaction with his performance and 53 percent disappointed with it, in yesterday's poll the results were essentially reversed: 51 percent were satisfied, while 36 percent were not.

Heh. But Obama gained in popularity in Israel too - if you can call it that.

When asked in the poll whether they saw Obama’s administration as more pro-Israel, more pro-Palestinian or neutral, just 12 percent of Israeli Jews surveyed said more pro-Israel, while 40% said more pro-Palestinian, 34% said neutral and 13% did not express an opinion.

Still, the poll found that the gap between Israelis who say the administration is pro-Palestinian and those deeming it pro-Israel has narrowed since previous surveys.

The poll of 600 Jewish Israelis, representing a statistical sample of the adult Jewish population, was taken on Monday and Tuesday and had a 4-percentage point margin of error.

Respondents who defined themselves at the left end of the political map were more likely than others to deem the Obama administration more pro-Israel – 28% compared to 12%. Among Kadima supporters, 37% said the administration was more pro-Palestinian; 19% said it was more pro-Israel.

The respondents most likely to label the Obama administration as more pro- Palestinian were Orthodox Israelis, at 58%, and right-wing respondents, at 53%. Among Likud supporters, 49% said the administration was more pro-Palestinian; 11% said it was more pro-Israel.

The question asked was exactly the same as in five previous polls sponsored by this newspaper since May 2009.

Read the whole thing. Why do even that many Jewish Israelis think Obama is pro-Israel?

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, pro-Israel