Israel Matzav: Rasmussen poll on US attitudes toward Israel

Rasmussen poll on US attitudes toward Israel

Rasmussen has a new poll out on US attitudes toward Israel. I suggest that you read it - I'm not going to start quoting a bunch of numbers. But there are two key points in my book.

First, note that all the questions regarding whether Israel should 'stop building settlements' have the caveat "as part of a peace deal." There is no peace deal and there's not likely to be one in your lifetime or mine because the 'Palestinians' and their Arab patrons are still unwilling to accept the Jewish state's 'right to exist.' The American people are smarter than that survey indicates, and if you asked them whether Israel should 'stop building settlements' as a unilateral concession to the 'Palestinians,' I believe that many more Americans would say no.

Second, the most important question is whether Israel is an ally or an enemy of the United States. In this survey, 58% say ally, 2% say enemy and 32% say somewhere in between. In September, 70% said ally, 8% said enemy and 16% said in between. For some reason, Rasmussen's current write-up only mentions the first number and not the latter two. It leaves the question of why 70% has shrunk to 58% hanging.

But the answer to that question is obvious. The survey was taken in the aftermath of Biden's trip to Israel. The average American probably knows very little about what happened, and only heard Biden's pique and Hillary's shrieking. So of course they figure something is wrong.

What's more disturbing is this:

Sixty-nine percent (69%) of GOP voters and 61% of unaffiliateds view Israel as a U.S. ally, a view shared by just 46% of Democrats. Forty-three percent (43%) of Democratic voters see Israel as somewhere between an ally and an enemy.

And 78% of American Jews voted for Obama in the last election. Hagai Ben Artzi may be right in what he said about Obama voters too.

Israel Matzav: Rasmussen poll on US attitudes toward Israel