Poll: Some 65% of Israelis believe Trump victory would be best for Israel

4 November 2024, 5:22 pm

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This combination of pictures created on November 02, 2024, shows former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (L) as he arrives on stage to speak during a campaign rally at the Sports and Expo Center at Macomb Community College in Warren, Michigan, November 1, 2024, and US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (R) as she arrives for a campaign rally at the Craig Ranch Amphitheater in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 31, 2024.(Roberto Schmidt and David Becker/AFP)

A day before the US presidential elections, a new poll finds that Israelis believe that a victory for Republican candidate Donald Trump would be best for Israel’s interests.

Asked who they preferred as the next US president, almost 65 percent of respondents to the Israel Democracy Institute survey choose the former US president, while only 13% say they want to see Vice President Kamala Harris win the election. Some 15% say there’s no difference for Israel between the two candidates, while 7% say they don’t know.

The gap between the two candidates is even sharper in the Jewish sample, with 72% saying they think Trump is better for Israel’s interests compared to 11% who believe Harris is better.

Among Arab Israeli respondents, 46% maintains that there’s no difference between the two presidential candidates, while the rest are divided, with a slight advantage for Trump (27% versus 22.5% for Harris).

And unsurprisingly, left-wing participants within the Jewish sample show a clear preference for Harris (42% vs. 29%), while Trump’s advantage over Harris is much more significant among center- and right-wing voters (center: Trump – 52%, Harris – 14%; right: Trump – 90%, Harris – 3%).

The IDI survey was conducted by the Viterbi Family Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research at the Israel Democracy Institute between October 28 and November 3, including a total of 750 participants. The maximum sampling error was ±3.58% at a confidence level of 95%.