82% of Americans Regard Israel as U.S. Friend or Ally

A new poll, conducted by CNN, has found that 67% of Americans express sympathy for Israel rather than Palestinians, whereas only 16% expressed sympathy for Palestinians over Israelis. (This represents a rise of sympathy for Israel among the American public from 60%, and a drop of sympathy for Palestinians from 17% recorded in 2009). The CNN poll, conducted during May 24-26, 2011, also found that an overwhelming 82% of Americans regard Israel as either a U.S. friend or ally (44% regard Israel as an ally, 38% regard it as a friend), as opposed to a mere 17% of Americans who regard it as unfriendly or an enemy (12% regard it as unfriendly, a mere 5% as an enemy). Also, more than two-thirds of Americans – 67% – view Israel favorably (23% very favorably, 42% somewhat favorably) as against 33% of Americans who do not (24% somewhat unfavorably, 9% very unfavorably). 35% of Americans say the U.S. should take Israel’s side in its conflict with the Palestinian Arabs, while just a mere 1% favors backing the Palestinians (‘CNN Opinion Research Poll,’ May 31, 2011).

These results are consistent with numerous other polls conducted in recent years which find the American public favoring Israel over the Palestinian Arabs by large margins:

·         December 2010 Rasmussen Reports survey: 57% of Americans regard Israel as an ally, while only 5% regard Israel as an enemy, while one in three (33%) regard it as being somewhere in between a friend and enemy. The survey, conducted December 9-10, 2010, also found that 29% of Americans expect the U.S.-Israel relationship to worsen in the next year, while a record low of only 13% of Americans expect it to improve, while 49% expect relations to remain about the same as they are. (In November, 27% of Americans expected the U.S.-Israel relationship to worsen in the next year). Also, 37% of Americans believe that the U.S. relationship with the Muslim world, something that the Obama administration has publicly declared it intends to improve, will be worse off in a year from now (‘29% Expect U.S.-Israeli Relations To Worsen,’ Rasmussen Reports, December 15, 2010).

·         August 2010 Rasmussen Report: 60% of Americans regard Israel as an ally, as against a mere 4% who regard it as an enemy and 31% who regard it as something in-between. The poll also found that 34% of American believe the U.S.-Israel relationship will be in worse shape than it is at present, as against 10% who think it will be in better shape and 45% who believe it will be much the same as it is now (Toplines – Israel – August 9-10, 2010, National Survey of 1,000 Likely Voters Conducted August 9-10, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports).

·         July 2010 Rasmussen Report: 58% of Americans believe Israel is an ally of the United States, as against 5% who believe it to be an enemy. Only 15% of Americans expect the U.S.-Israeli relationship to be in better shape in one year from now than it is at present, as opposed to 31% who expect to be in worse shape by then and 44% who expect it to be about the same (Rasmussen Reports, Toplines – Relations with Israel – July 10-11, 2010).

·         April 2010 Quinnipiac University survey found that 44% of the American public disapprove of the Obama policy towards Israel and the Palestinians; two-thirds of people questioned in the survey say that President Obama should be a strong supporter of Israel but, by a 42% to 34% margin, voters say he is not (‘Senate Should Ratify Nuclear Disarmament Treaty, U.S. Voters Tell Quinnipiac University National Poll; Obama Not Strong Enough On Israel, Voters Say,’ Quinnipiac University survey, April 22, 2010).

·         February 2010 Israel Project survey found 56% of Americans say that U.S. should side with Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians, as opposed to 15% who believe the U.S. should side with the Palestinians against the Israelis, a margin of support for Israel of 8 to 1 (Israel Project Frequency Questionnaire, February 20-24, 2010).

·         February 2010 Gallup Annual World Affairs survey found that, for the first time since 1991, more than 6 in 10 Americans — 63% — say their sympathies in the Middle East situation lie more with the Israelis than with the Palestinians, as against 15% who favored the Palestinians and 23% who favored both sides (Lydia Saad, ‘Support for Israel in U.S. at 63%, Near Record High,’ Gallup, February 24, 2010).

·         December 2009 Israel Project survey found that 61% of Americans support the United States coming to the military defense of Israel if it strikes Iranian nuclear facilities and Iran retaliates; more than two-thirds of Americans – 68% – support the United States coming to Israel’s military defense if Iran uses Hamas and Hezbollah to strike Israel, and Israel then attacks Iran in response (Israel Project December National Survey, December 14-16, 2009).

·         September 2009 Israel Project poll showed 59% of Americans describing themselves either as a “strong supporter of Israel” or a “supporter of Israel,” as opposed to just 8% who describe themselves as supporting the Palestinians; Americans support by 72% to 23% Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement that “Israel would not build any new settlements in the West Bank, but that Israel must be allowed to accommodate natural growth of existing settlements” (Israel Project poll, Aug. 22-25, 2009, conducted by Neil Newhouse, a Republican, of Public Opinion Strategies, and Stanley Greenberg, a Democrat, of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, ‘U.S. poll shows strong Israel support,’ Jewish Telegraphic Agency, September 7, 2009).

·         June 2009 Rasmussen poll showed that 35% percent of Americans believe that Obama is not supportive enough of Israel, whereas only 10 percent believe that he is too supportive, while 48 percent think he has the balance right; 81% of Americans believe that Palestinian leaders should acknowledge Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, as against 7% who think they should not; Only 27% of Americans believe it likely that Palestinian leaders will acknowledge Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, as against 60% who regard it as unlikely (‘Toplines – Israel & Palestine – June 21-22, 2009,’ Rasmussen National Survey of 1,000 Likely Voters Conducted June 21-22, 2009).

·         June 2009 Israel Project poll showed that 49% of American call themselves supporters of Israel, as against 7% of Americans who call themselves supporters of Palestinians; 44% of Americans believe that believe the U.S. should support Israel as against 5% of Americans who believe the U.S. should support the Palestinians and 32% who were undecided; 66% of Americans do not believe that Israeli support for establishing a Palestinian state and stopping the expansion of Jewish settlements will bring lasting peace to the region, whereas only 22% of Americans believe that it will; 57% of Americans believe that Israel should retain some territory for its security, as against 23% of Americans who believe that Israel should withdrawal from all territories captured in 1967; 44% of Americans believe that believe the U.S. should support Israel as against 5% of Americans who believe the U.S. should support the Palestinians and 32% who were undecided (‘Poll: American voters’ support of Israel drops,’ Jewish Telegraphic Agency, June 2009).

·         January 2009 Israel Project poll showed that 57% percent of Americans defined themselves as supporters of the Israelis, whereas only 8% described themselves as supporters of the Palestinians and a further 34% were undecided. 73% of Americans believe the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is about ideology and religion, compared to only 19% who believe that the conflict is about land; 91% of Americans believe that getting to stop Palestinians firing rockets into Israel is “extremely or very important,” to bring peace in the Middle East; 90% of Americans believe it is important for Palestinians to stop teaching hatred of Israel (Israel Project poll, January 10-12, 2009, Etgar Lefkowits, ‘Americans still strongly support Israel,’ Jerusalem Post, February 5, 2009).