While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was meeting with US President on Wednesday, Gallup released the results of its recent poll, revealing that 71 percent of Americans viewed Israel favorably, while only 27 percent had an unfavorable perception of the Jewish State. This is the fourth consecutive year that poll set Israel’s favorable rating at 70 percent or higher. Israel’s image among Americans has been on an overall rise since an all-time low in 1989 when it was at less than 50 percent.
The survey was conducted February 1-5 and found 29 percent of respondents viewing Israel very favorably, 42 percent mostly favorably, 21 percent mostly unfavorably and six percent very unfavorably. Just eight percent have no opinion of the Jewish state.
Netanyahu should have felt reassured at his 49 percent favorable rating from Americans. While only 30 percent viewed the Israeli prime minister unfavorably, 21 percent have no opinion. There is a clear demographic bias, with 73 percent of Republicans favoring Netanyahu, and only 11 percent from that party viewing him unfavorably. Only 32 percent of Democrats favored Netanyahu while 41 percent had a negative opinion of the US ally.
Another recent Gallup Poll showed that Americans were ambivalent about the two-state solution. The results released on Monday revealed that 45 percent of Americans support establishing a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, while 42 percent oppose it. Support for a Palestinian state remains unchanged from last year, but opposition has increased by four percent. This closes the gap significantly from an all-time high in 2003 when 58 percent supported the creation of a Palestinian state while only 22 percent opposed it. Support for the Palestinian state has been decreasing steadily while opposition has been rising. The percentage of people expressing no opinion has been steadily decreasing as well, and in the recent survey reached an all-time low of 13 percent.
This is a strongly partisan issue, with 61 percent of Democrats favoring a Palestinian state, while only 25 percent of Republicans are in favor if it.
62 percent of Americans say they sympathize more with the Israelis and 19 percent with the Palestinians, similar to the past several years. Another 19 percent express no preference, including five percent who say they sympathize with both equally, six percent who sympathize with neither and eight percent who have no opinion. This is also divided along party lines, with 82 percent of Republicans sympathizing more with Israelis, and only 47 percent of Democrats sympathizing more with the Jewish State. By contrast, six percent of Republicans and 29 percent of Democrats sympathize more with the Palestinians.
