Pro-Israel feelings up since 2009, according to telephone survey of adult Americans; 82% say Israel is a friend or ally of the United States.A new poll conducted by American news network CNN has reported that 67 percent of the American public feel sympathy for Israelis and not Palestinians, compared with 16% who claim to side with the Palestinians rather than Israel.
The poll was conducted by telephone from May 24-26. 1,007 adult Americans were asked their opinions on several different countries, including Israel.
The results show that pro-Israel feelings are on the rise in the United States. In a similar survey conducted in 2009, only 60 percent of the population sample expressed pro-Israel feelings, while 17%, one percentage point higher than 2011's poll, claimed to sympathize with the Palestinians.
In addition to the high numbers expressing sympathy with Israeli, 82% of the audience said they felt Israel was either a friend or ally of the United States. Twelve percent said they did not regard Israel as a friend, and 5% classified the country as an US enemy. Only Great Britain received higher marks of friendship, with 98% of the polling audience calling that nation either a friend or ally. Conversely, 62% called China either a friend or ally, and only 26% expressed the same sentiment about Syria. 49% of those polled said they felt that North Korea was an enemy of the United States, the same "enemy" rating received by Iran, compared with 24% who said the same about Pakistan.
The survey participants were also quizzed as to their opinions on current events. 54% reported supporting the joint US/NATO mission in Libya, compared with 43% who opposed and 3% who had no opinion. 31% said that the removal of Muammar Gaddafi from power should be a "very important foreign policy goal" of the United States.
The poll, conducted for CNN by the Opinion Research Corporation, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Source: JerusalemPost
