Poll finds Israelis worried about Biden taking over from Trump
Survey finds Netanyahu’s approach to Abbas is appreciated.
By GIL HOFFMANUS President Joe Biden gestures after disembarking from a plane upon landing at Ben Gurion International Airport in Lod, near Tel Aviv, Israel March 8, 2016(photo credit: REUTERS/BAZ RATNER)
Israelis are bracing for what they believe will be a downturn in relations with the United States when President-elect Joe Biden takes over for US President Donald Trump next month, the Israel Democracy Institute’s new Voice Index poll found on Monday.The poll of 607 respondents, representing a statistical sample of the adult Israeli population, asked how friendly the Biden administration will be compared to its predecessor.The results were that almost three-fourths (74.3%) believe it will be less friendly, 12.5% believe it will be friendlier and 13.2% said they do not know or refused to answer.Asked whether Israeli security would be a central consideration for Biden when formulating American policy, 37% said to a large or very large extent, 47.3% said a small or very small extent and 15.7% either refused to answer or admitted that they do not know.The survey also asked respondents to grade their own politicians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was found by 62.2% to have low credibility and 33.2% to have high credibility.Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz was found by 59.6% to have low credibility and by 3.9% to have high credibility. The remaining percentages among both Netanyahu and Gantz said they did know or declined to respond.Asked about Netanyahu’s recent cooperation with Joint List MK Mansour Abbas, 28.9% of Jews and 40.8% of Arabs said they supported it.The parties whose voters most supported the Netanyahu-Abbas alliance was United Torah Judaism (51%), followed by the Joint List (41%) and Yamina (37%). The parties whose supporters back the alliance the least are Shas (6%) and Yisrael Beytenu (25%).The poll was taken last week and had a margin of error of 3.7%.
