American Public Support for Israel: Assessing the Cracks in a Unique Bond
Amnon Cavari
Americans generally think of Israel in favorable terms — they sympathize more with Israel than with Arab countries or with the Palestinians, they see Israel as an ally of the United States, and they are willing to follow up on their support for Israel with economic and military aid. However, this strong public support is undergoing important transformations, which may result in a decline in public support in the near future and in turn affect US policy toward Israel.
In recent years, we are witnessing the development of important demographic gaps in support for Israel among different age, education, and religious groups. These groups are aligned with existing political cleavages and are the root of the unprecedented polarization between the American elite and the masses vis-à-vis support for Israel, with the Republican Party demonstrating strong support for Israel and the Democratic Party demonstrating increasingly weakening support. This, I argue, should be of concern to policymakers in Israel.
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Israeli Public Opinion Toward the US: Divided Along Party Lines
Amnon Cavari & Guy Freedman
In this report we present some of the findings of the IDC Election Survey, conducted in Israel. Our findings suggest that for the most part, Israelis tend to reciprocate Americans’ favorable outlook, demonstrating favorable views that are divided along political lines. Left and center party voters tend to view the US in favorable terms, more so than right-wing party voters or ultra-Orthodox voters. Arab party voters seem to exhibit mixed feelings toward the US. This partisan divide extends to other issues related to US-Israeli relations. Right-wing voters blame President Obama for the deterioration of US-Israeli relations and believe that the US is trying to influence the Israeli elections.
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Attitudes of Hispanics Toward Israel
Shir Marom Melnik & Amnon Cavari
US demographics are in the midst of a shift that is transforming the racial tapestry of American society, the main cause of which is the surge in the American Hispanic population. The rapid growth of the Hispanic population bears many consequences, including specific implications on American public opinion toward Israel. In this report, we discuss the electoral importance of the Hispanic population and trends in support for Israel among this group. Using an extensive database of surveys collected at the APOI research lab, we examine and analyze: (1) the overall support for Israel within the Hispanic and non-Hispanic American public, (2) the differences in support for Israel between US-born Hispanics and Hispanic immigrants, and (3) the support for Israel among Hispanics registered to vote and non-registered Hispanics. Our findings reveal that the assimilation process increases support for Israel among this immigrant community. Specifically, we show that Hispanics who were born in the US and Hispanics who are politically involved are more supportive of Israel than those who are first-generation immigrants and who are not involved in the political process.
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Trends in US Congressional Support for Israel
Amnon Cavari with Elan Nyer
This study investigates congressional activity regarding Israel over the past four decades by analyzing sponsorships of bills that relate to Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict. It addresses four issues: the frequency with which members of Congress show support for Israel through legislative action; the correlation between congressional activity regarding Israel and broader trends of congressional activity on foreign policy; the ways in which Congress’s use of this tool on Israel’s behalf has changed; and the differences in trends between the House of Representatives and the Senate. We show that while congressional support for Israel has historically transcended the partisan divide, the parties are growing less cooperative with regard to the means by which to express that support, a development that we have termed “Congressional Dysergia.”
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