Poll: U.S. voters support Israel

By · March 31, 2008

Americans likely to vote in November strongly believe the United States should take Israel’s side in its conflict with the Palestinians, a poll found.

Sixty percent of those who say they will cast their ballots in the presidential election support Israel, according to a poll released Monday by Public Opinion Strategies and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research commissioned by The Israel Project.

Some 85 percent of respondents supporting Republican candidate Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz), 62 percent backing Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and 58 percent of those for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D.-N.Y.) say America should stand with Israel during the current Israel-Palestinian conflict.

“The militant actions by Hamas and disarray among the Palestinians have moved Americans to side with Israel even more strongly than in the past,” said Stanley Greenberg of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research.

Some 84 percent of respondents support a two-state solution. Forty-six percent think that establishing a Palestinian state will bring lasting peace, and 93 percent agree Palestinians must stop their missile attacks before a two-state solution can bring peace to the region.

Another 84 percent of Americans agree Israel should remain a Jewish state and a homeland for the Jewish people. Only 20 percent believe that Jerusalem should be divided.

The telephone survey of 800 likely voters was conducted March 18-20. Three percent of the respondents identified themselves as Jewish. The poll had a margin of error of 3.5 percent.