Poll: Huge gaps between Republicans, Democrats over Israel

The US public views Israel as the third most important partner for US foreign policy, though there are huge differences between Republicans and Democrats, a recent Pew poll found.

The Poll, retweeted by Pew earlier this week, was designed to gauge how Americans and Germans view one another. As part of the survey, participants were asked which country was “the first- or second-most important partner for American foreign policy.”

Among all Americans, Great Britain led the list followed by China, with Germany and Israel tied for third place. Rounding out the list of eight is Canada, France, Russia and Japan.

But there was a huge partisan divide.

The Republicans placed Israel second on the list, before China and after Great Britain, while for Democrats Israel was not even on a list of the eight most important partners for the US.

This poll continues a trend of polls showing a stark divide in attitudes among Democrats and Republicans toward Israel.

For instance, a Pew poll from January indicated that the partisan divide regarding Israel is now wider than any time since 1978, with 79% of Republicans saying they sympathize more with Israel than with the Palestinians, while the number of Democrats more sympathetic to Israel stood at just 27%.

A similar Gallup poll two months later also found a large gap among the parties, but less pronounced than the Pew poll. This poll found that 87% of Republicans sympathize more with Israel than the Palestinians, though the number among Democrats was only 49%.

According to the American Jewish Committee’s 2018 survey of American Jewish opinion, 51% of American Jews consider themselves Democrats, 16% Republicans, 24% Independent and 9% “other.” That poll also found that 60% of American Jews voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, and only 19% for Donald Trump.

The Pew poll regarding important partners for the US was based on telephone interviews from October 6-10 among a national sample of 1,012 adults, with a 3.7% margin of error.