If Israelis were the ones who decided, presumptive Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump would defeat U.S. President Joe Biden in a landslide on Nov. 5, according to a JNS/Direct Polls survey of public opinion carried out on July 9.
According to the survey, 55% of Israelis would prefer to see Trump elected, 34% prefer Biden and 11% don’t have an opinion on the matter.
Israelis are unsure whether Biden is pro-Israel. Fifty percent said he is, while 43% said he is not and 7% don’t know.
Among young Israelis, the responses were even more dramatic. Seventy-four percent of respondents aged 18 to 29 said that Biden is not pro-Israel. Young Israelis support Trump over Biden 95%-5%.
Israel and Jewish issues played a small but explosive role in the presidential debate between Biden and Trump late last month.
In an exchange about what leverage Biden would use to get Hamas to agree to a ceasefire-for-hostages proposal that he announced in May, Trump accused the president of wanting to let the Palestinian terror group remain in power.
“Israel is the one, and you should let ’em go and let ’em finish the job,” Trump said. “He doesn’t want to do it. He’s become like a Palestinian. But they don’t like him because he’s a very bad Palestinian, he’s a weak one.”
Biden in his preceding answer claimed that he had “saved Israel,” but that the Jewish state had “killed a lot of innocent people.”
In May, Trump criticized Biden’s decision to freeze weapons shipments to Israel amid its war with Hamas, saying, “I support Israel’s right to win its war on terror. Is that okay? I don’t know if that’s good or bad politically. I don’t care. Gotta do what’s right.”
Weeks earlier, Trump told Time magazine that he was no longer sure a two-state solution is viable.
“Most people thought it was going to be a two-state solution. I’m not sure a two-state solution anymore is gonna work,” the former president said.
“There was a time when I thought two states could work. Now I think two states is going to be very, very tough. I think it’s going to be much tougher to get. I also think you have fewer people that liked the idea. You had a lot of people that liked the idea four years ago. Today, you have far fewer people that like that idea,” he added.
Meanwhile, Israelis believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is more capable of managing Jerusalem’s relations with the United States than former War Cabinet Minister Knesset member Benny Gantz, by a margin of 46%-34%, according to the poll.
The JNS/Direct Polls survey questioned Israelis about a host of key national security issues. The poll was carried out among 606 adults aged 18 and older, representing Israel’s general population. The statistical error is 4.4%+/-95%.
