71% Of Americans Still Have Favorable View Of Israel

By Josefin Dolsten February 15, 2017

(JTA) — Seventy-one percent of Americans view Israel favorably, the fourth straight year the Jewish state has received a favorable rating of 70 percent or higher, a Gallup poll found.

The survey was released Wednesday, ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the United States and meeting with President Donald Trump. It was conducted earlier this month.

The favorable rating includes respondents who said they viewed Israel very or mostly favorably.

Since 2014, the proportion of Americans who say they view Israel favorably has remained at 70 to 72 percent, according to Gallup data.

Israel’s favorability rating in the most recent poll did not fall below 61 percent for any major demographic or political group. Republicans and adults aged 65 and over had the most positive views of the Jewish state at 81 and 77 percent, respectively.

Earlier this week, Gallup released data from a poll that showed Americans nearly evenly divided over support for a Palestinian state, with 45 percent backing the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza Strip and 42 percent opposing it.

Asked about their opinions of Netanyahu, 49 percent of respondents said they viewed him favorably and 30 percent unfavorably — both figures the highest recorded in the poll — with 13 percent saying they never heard of him and 8 percent saying they have no opinion.

Josefin Dolsten is a New York-based writer who has reported for the Forward, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Times of Israel and other Jewish publications. She currently works as an account director at Fenton Communications, supporting organizations that work to advance racial justice, LGBTQ+ equality, reproductive rights and more. Dolsten earned her B.A. in government from Cornell University and her M.A. in comparative religion and Jewish studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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