Two days ago we posted on a shocking new poll which shows that Americans’ support for Israel has dropped over 20 points in the past nine months. The poll itself has not yet been officially released, but the JTA is reporting more of the leaked numbers:
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.
The poll was conducted among 800 registered voters on June 2 and 3 by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. It has not been officially released by The Israel Project, but was leaked to the media by someone who received the numbers the day after the poll was completed on Thursday.
According to the poll, some 44 percent of voters believe the United States should support Israel, down from 69 percent a year ago. Some 5 percent of voters believe the United States should support the Palestinians, with 32 percent undecided.
These results raise some interesting questions. It’s clear that American opinion isn’t necessarily shifting from Israeli to Palestinian “sides,” but rather it would seem that people are simply losing attachment to Israel. As the undecided number grows, Obama’s room to maneuver from a position of US interests grows as well. Although I am not optimistic that US interests by themselves will lead to a just solution to the conflict, this shift in US opinion could go a long way in redefining the “special relationship” between the US and Israel, which can only be a good thing.
