Poll finds Netanyahu less popular among Americans after Congress Iran speech

Changes to Americans' views of Netanyahu were mostly felt among Democrats.

By HERB KEINON
Netanyahu speaks to Congress (photo credit: screenshot)
Netanyahu speaks to Congress
(photo credit: screenshot)
While the impact of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress on the Israeli electorate will not be fully apparent until after Tuesday’s vote, a Gallup Poll released on Monday indicated that it has weakened his position among the US public.
Netanyahu’s favorability rating among the American public dropped 7 percentage points – from 45 percent in early February, before the speech, to 38% now, according to the poll. Though his “unfavorable” rating rose from 24% to 29%, more Americans still have a positive, rather than negative, view of the prime minister.
This is not true of Democrats, however; 46% of them view him unfavorably, and only 17% favorably.
Before the speech, an equal number of Democrats – 32% – held each view.
Gallup explained the steep drop among Democrats as a result of their “likely taking their cues about the appropriateness of Netanyahu’s address and his message on Iran from President [Barack] Obama, who disagreed both with Netanyahu’s addressing Congress and his arguments against a nuclear agreement with Iran.”
Among Republicans, in contrast, 62% now have a positive view of the prime minister, as opposed to 60% last month, and only 16% view him unfavorably.
Although Netanyahu’s favorability rating is significantly lower than the one he had before the speech, it is still his third-highest rating out of seven similar polls Gallup has taken on this issue since 1998. It is also 3 percentage points higher than it was in 2012.
In this latest poll, conducted March 5-8 among 1,025 adults, another 33% said they did not have an opinion of Netanyahu.
The poll had a ±4% margin of error.