Netanyahu Has Just 17% Favorable Rating Among Democrats
Image by getty images
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is less popular among Americans than the leaders of other U.S. allies such as Canada, Britain and Germany but is significantly better liked than his Russian and North Korean counterparts, a new Gallup poll released Tuesday found.
According to the Gallup, which polled 1,024 adults over the first 12 days of August, the leaders of America’s closest allies are “viewed more favorably than unfavorably by Americans, but with favorable ratings for each below 50 percent.”
Thirty-seven percent expressed a favorable view of the Israeli leader, two points fewer than German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Twenty-nine percent of those polled had a negative view of Netanyahu while 22 percent of respondents said they had not heard of the Israeli premier. His net favorability rating came in at +8 — that is, he is more liked than disliked by a margin of eight percentage points.
Members of the Republican party were “far more likely than Democrats to feel positively about Netanyahu, reflecting their greater support for Israel and perhaps Trump’s own close relationship with the Israeli leader,” Gallup found. Among Republicans, 64 percent expressed favorable views of Netanyahu, compared with 30 percent of independents and only 17 percent of Democrats.
“Netanyahu’s current 37% favorable rating is similar to Gallup’s last several measurements, taken between 1999 and 2015,” Gallup reported. “Netanyahu was viewed more positively in December 1998 after signing a U.S.-brokered peace treaty with the Palestinians known as the Wye agreement, but he quickly returned to the 35% range where he had been previously. His lowest favorable rating in Gallup’s records (23%) came in April 1997 after he narrowly escaped removal as prime minister following an influence-peddling scandal.”
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
