Majority of Israelis prefer Donald Trump over Joe Biden - poll
Israeli perspectives on American Jewry's voting patterns were also assessed in the poll.
By CODY LEVINEUS PRESIDENT Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden debate in Cleveland, Ohio, on Tuesday.(photo credit: BRIAN SNYDER / REUTERS)
A new poll published by I24News and conducted by the Direct Falls Research Institute on Monday found that 63.3% of Israelis preferred the reelection of incumbent US President Donald Trump, compared to 18.8% who preferred former vice president and Democratic challenger Joe Biden.Most respondents said they believed Trump would be a better president for Israel, while a minority of Israelis said the same about Biden. In the undecideds camp, 10.4% of respondents said that both candidates would be equally good for Israel, while 3.1% said neither would be.Israelis were also asked whether the personal connection between Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could affect US-Israel ties, and some 50.9% of respondents said that the election of Biden would harm future bilateral relations, since they felt that Trump has a special relationship with Israel.Similarly, 43.5% of respondents indicated that the US-Israel relationship was not dependent on the US president or the Israeli prime minister, because the US is a “true friend” of Israel, regardless.As for public interest, 87.8% of Israelis said they were following the US election race, and, broken down, 48.1% said it was very interesting for them, while 39.7% said it was interesting to a certain extent, and 9% said that they were not very interested.Israeli perspectives on American Jewry’s voting patterns were also assessed in the poll, and 48.2% of respondents thought that American Jews’ support for the Democrats is “wrong,” compared to 35.5% of Israelis who thought American-Jewish support for them is “right,” while 16.3% of respondents said they were unsure.Regarding ties between American and Israeli Jews, 47% of the latter said there is a rift between the world’s two largest Jewish communities, but expressed optimism about possible reconciliation. Conversely, 35.3% of respondents said there is no rupture between the two communities, but that there are legitimate points of disagreement; 12.4% of respondents said there cannot be any reconciliation between the two communities, and 5.3% were unsure of the question.The poll was conducted on October 6 with a sample of 519 adult respondents from all sectors of the Israeli population. The statistical sampling error was + 4.4%, with a probability of 95%.
