New Poll Shows Mideast Is Increasingly a Partisan Issue
You wouldn’t know from the U-N-I-T-Y themes of this year’s AIPAC conference, but a big partisan gap is opening on how Americans view the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That’s according to a soon-to-be-released poll by the Arab-American Institute.
In a capsule summary ahead of the full release of the poll on Thursday, AAI’s James Zogby finds:
“„42% of Democrats had a favorable rating of Israel compared to 92% of Republicans resulting in a 50% gap between the parties.
“„While the gap is higher in this poll, the finding is consistent with a recent Gallup poll that had 53% of Democrats with a favorable view compared to 80 % of Republicans.
That partisan gap does not translate into sympathy with the Palestinians, according to AAI. But Zogby’s summary says that a “plurality or slight majority” agree that an “inability to prevent Israel’s settlement expansion makes the U.S. less respected in the world.” In other words, it’s a poll soon to be denounced by Abraham Foxman.
