Poll: Ahead of US elections, 63% of Israelis say 'Trump better for Israel'

A clear majority of Israelis favor the re-election of US President Donald Trump come November’s presidential elections, a new poll conducted for i24NEWS showed Monday night.

Answering the question, “which US presidential candidate do you think will be better for Israel?” 63.3 percent of respondents chose the Republican leader.

In contrast, Democrat candidate and former vice president Joe Biden came up with a mere 18.8 percent.

Moreover, 53.2 percent said they thought the Israeli right would be significantly harmed if Trump was not re-elected. A little over 21 percent replied that “Israel acts independently,” therefore won’t be influenced by a change in the White House.

Almost half of Israelis (48.2 percent) thought that US Jews are “mistaken” to support the Democratic Party, versus 35.5 percent who thought they were “correct” in doing so.

On the question whether a rift has grown between American Jewry and the State of Israel in recent years, 47 percent replied that it could be mended, 35.3 percent said there’s “no rift, only debate,” and 12.4 percent answered the rift could not be mended.

Some 48 percent of Israeli said they were “extremely interested” in the events leading up to the US presidential elections with close to 40 percent stressing they were “somewhat interested.”

In addition, a little over half of respondents (50.9 percent) said they believe that US-Israel ties will be harmed if Biden is elected, versus 43.5 percent who said that relations won’t be affected.

The survey, conducted by Shlomo Filber and Tzuriel Sharon of Direct Polls, was held digitally on October 6, among 519 adults (aged 18 and over) representing a cross-section of Israel society.