Israelis unruffled by Trump, left cold by Bernie – poll

The Republican front-runner, Donald Trump, is generating far fewer jitters among Jewish Israelis than in America. Here, most (61 percent) believe that he is either moderately friendly to the Jewish state or very friendly, according to the Israel Democracy Institute’s monthly Peace Index poll, released today.

Only 14% assess his position – alongside several very pro-Israel statements, Trump has said that he will try to be a “neutral” broker in the peace process – as either not so friendly or not at all friendly. In an abstract, the IDI says 44% of Arab Israelis have not formed an opinion on Trump, noting that the figure “is too high to take this question into account.”

When it comes to the general election, a plurality (34%) of Jewish Israelis think a Republican president will be more pro-Israel than a Democratic (28%) one, the poll finds. Those trends are reversed among Arab Israelis, 47% of whom say a Democratic president will be more pro-Israel.

Perhaps surprisingly, Israelis prefer Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton over her Jewish rival, Bernie Sanders, by a vast margin, with 40.5% saying Clinton is “preferable from Israel’s standpoint,” as opposed to “only 16.5%” who think Sanders would be the more pro-Israel candidate, the abstract says.