Ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential elections, a little more than 63% of Israelis think that U.S. President Donald Trump “will be better for Israel,” according to an i24 News poll released on Monday.
It reported that 63.3% of respondents chose the Republican incumbent, 18.8% chose former Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, 10.4% said “both are equally good for Israel,” 4.4% responded they don’t know, and 3.1% said neither candidate.
Some 53.2% said the Israeli right “will be harmed” if Trump loses; 21.2% replied that “Israel acts independently” and therefore wouldn’t be impacted if Trump is no longer president; 21.2% responded that their views are left-of-centre, and 4.4% said they don’t know.
As to whether they believe the U.S.-Israel relationship will be harmed if Biden wins, the results were almost 50-50, with 43.5% replying that relations won’t be impacted.
Meanwhile, 48.2% of Israelis responded that American Jews are “mistaken” in supporting the Democratic Party, while 35.5% replied they were “correct” in doing so, and 16.3% said they don’t know.
In answering how interested they are in or closely following events ahead of the election, some 48.1% of Israelis replied that they were “extremely interested,” 39.7% said they were “somewhat interested,” 9% responded “not very interested,” and 2.8% said “not interested at all.”
Regarding whether a divide has increased between American Jewry and the State of Israel in recent years, 47% responded that it could be mended; 35.3% replied that there’s “no rift, only debate”; 12.4% said the divide could not be fixed, and 5.3% said they don’t know.
JNS