Israel Matzav

Israel more popular in the US than Obama and Congress

A new survey finds that support for Israel in the United States is increasing. The support is increasing from surprising sources: Democratic supporters of Barack Hussein Obama, and 'opinion elites' - those who are both wealthy and engaged in foreign policy. Support for Israel is higher than approval of Congress or Obama. And a majority of Americans have figured out that the 'Palestinians' are extremists who are not interested in peace.

So-called “opinion elites” and Democratic voters drove the shift, which pegged American voter support for Israel around the 60 percent mark in the survey conducted last week.

The poll demonstrated that support for Israel among President Barack Obama’s Democratic voters was on the rise, and that the majority of Americans believed that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was more committed to peace than his Palestinian counterpart.

Support for Israel among Democrats has risen by 10 percentage points in the past six months, while support among independent voters and Republicans has remained steady.

The current support for Israel reflects the highest rate since 2009 among polls conducted for the Israel Project. “Opinion elites” – responders who display high engagement in foreign policy, education and income – showed an even more pronounced level of support, exceeding the general sample by 7 percentage points.

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Respondents characterized Israel as “one of our strongest allies” (68%) and a “democracy” (66%) while rejecting the notion that Israel is “extremist” (61%) or “responsible for the violence” (65%).

Over half of those polled – 56% – consider Palestinians to be “extremist” and an “obstacle to peace,” and 55% do not consider Palestinians to be “victims.”

The voters polled cited women’s rights, freedom of speech, voting, freedom of religion, and the threat of terrorism (24%) as the top reasons they are proud of America’s strong alliance with Israel – although none of those reasons appeared as clearly dominant.

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Days before Obama, in a conversation with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, was caught expressing frustration with Netanyahu’s efforts on the peace process, a majority of American voters (60%) said that Netanyahu and Israel are committed to peace, while 52% say that President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority are not committed to that end.

The poll was conducted by The Israel Project.

Labels: American support for Israel, The Israel Project

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:24 PM