A new poll by the Independent Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University reveals that Jewish Israelis prefer a Republican to be the next U.S. president — and that 61% say that Donald Trump is friendly to Israel.
The poll also revealed that Israelis prefer former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) by a wide margin, 40.5% to 16%. Sanders is Jewish, as he discussed in Sunday night’s Democratic debate in Michigan.
The survey reports:
A higher percentage of the Jewish public (34%) think a Republican president will be better for Israel, compared to 28% who think so regarding a Democratic president. When Arab Israelis were asked from which party a president will be more pro-Israel, the opposite was reported; the highest rate (47%) thought a Democratic president would be more pro-Israel, 30% said there was no difference, and 23% said a Republican candidate would be more pro-Israel.
The poll was conducted as part of the monthly “peace index” survey, which asks Israeli Jews and Arabs how they feel about the prospects for the peace process. February’s survey added questions about the U.S. presidential race, though no question pitted Trump directly against Clinton. The poll was conducted by telephone among 600 respondents between Feb. 28 and Mar. 1, and with a margin of error of 4.1% with a 95% confidence level.