AMERICANS LIKE ISRAEL

More Popular than France

NOAH POLLAK - CONTENTIONS

Gallup just released the latest in its series of polls (see here and here) that track Americans’ opinions on 22 countries around the world. Israel’s popularity–measured as the percentage of respondents who view the Jewish state “very” or “mostly” favorably–has increased to 71 percent, a number not seen since the Gulf War in 1991. The Palestinian Authority’s rating is a stark 14 percent–only two points higher than North Korea’s and six points higher than Iran’s.

There are a couple of interesting things about these numbers. For one, it appears that the recent Walt-Mearsheimer fracas did absolutely nothing to disabuse ordinary Americans of their affection for Israel. Another is the continuing trend of Republicans being significantly more favorably disposed to Israel than Democrats–in the latest survey, Israel is viewed favorably among Republicans by a remarkable 84 percent, compared to 64 percent among Democrats.