Survey: 35% of young US Republicans have never heard of Netanyahu

Bad news for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who prides himself on being an influential international statesman: A growing number of Americans have never heard of him, including many young Republicans.

The Pew Research Center poll published yesterday looks at US confidence in major world leaders and found that “sizable shares of the US public have not heard of several world leaders.”

That includes Netanyahu.

“Americans see Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, more negatively than positively: 42% have no confidence in him, while 32% have confidence,” the poll finds.

However, his standing among Republicans was significantly higher. “Republicans are 32 percentage points more likely than Democrats to have confidence in Netanyahu (49% vs. 17%). ”

But if trends continue then Netanyahu won’t enjoy that advantage for long with the Republicans, with whom he has traditionally had closer ties.

“Younger Republicans – those ages 18 to 49 – are less positive about Netanyahu than their older counterparts. But this is largely because 35% of younger Republicans say they have never heard of the Israeli leader,” the report says. “Still, only three-in-ten Republicans in this age group have confidence in Netanyahu, far less than the 66% among Republicans ages 50 and older.”