During the election Alan Dershowitz said that he was supporting Obama because “the election of Barack Obama – a liberal supporter of Israel – will enhance Israel’s position among wavering liberals.” Actually, it turns out that Obama was more inclined to pick an extended fight with Israel, eroding Israel’s support in America across the board. Weird how that worked out:
American voters’ support for Israel has dropped 20 percent in the past nine months, a new survey found. Some 49 percent of American voters call themselves supporters of Israel, down from 69 percent last September, according to the poll conducted for The Israel Project. The number of voters who called themselves undecided rose during that same period, and the number of Palestinian supporters remained steady at 7 percent. The number of Israel supporters hit a low of 38 percent immediately following the 2005 disengagement from Gaza, with an equal rise in undecided voters… According to the poll, some 44 percent of voters believe the United States should support Israel, down from 69 percent a year ago.
When you dig into the actual numbers things start to get a little weird. Overwhelming majorities think that Israel should retain West Bank land for security reasons, that a two-state solution won’t bring peace, and that Iran poses a significant threat to the Jewish State. Only 7 percent of Americans are willing to support the Palestinian cause, significantly less than the number of people who believe that the US government is in contact with aliens. This is not a reflection on the conflict in general or Israel’s policies in particular.
The Middle East as a whole is one of those low-information domains where voters react based on perception and exposure. The Obama administration has ensured that highly charged, negatively valenced stories about Israel stay in the news cycle. The result has been a predictable drip drip drip erosion in the willingness of Americans to support the Jewish State. These people know what they’re doing.
References:
* Why I Support Israel and Obama [HuffPo]
* The WH’s Eight-Step Plan For Detonating The US-Israel Relationship [MR]
* Poll: American voters’ support of Israel drops [JTA]
* The “Iran Lobby” Moves Into The White House [MR]
Previously:
* Pro-Obama Jewish Groups Soliciting Creepy "Pledges" To Help Obama Detonate The US-Israel Alliance
* Obama Figures Out The Real Problem With Iranian Nuclearization (Plus: Obama’s Foreign Policy Kneejerks Provide Excellent Illustration Of Exactly How He’d Screw Israel)
* Ohio Jewish Democrats: "Hey, How About We Make The Most Anti-Israel Candidate Evuh The Next US President?"
