Reply To: President Donald Trump, Oheiv Yisroel Par Excellence

The GOP Loves Netanyahu As Much As Reagan:
According to a poll, the Israeli leader is one of the ‘most admired’ among Republicans.

mong Republicans, Netanyahu’s name is invoked as a most admired “national or world leader” as often as Ronald Reagan’s.

Certainly, the results may partly underline how hard Republican need to work to win over their overwhelmingly pro-Israel base. GOP candidates are principally catering to an evangelical base that has become Israel’s biggest support base in American politics: 65 percent of evangelicals want the United States to lean toward Israel compared with 26 percent for the rest of the population.

While a plurality of Americans say Israel has just the “right level of influence” in American politics, among Democrats half say Israel has too much influence, outnumbering Democrats who say it has too little by a ratio of nearly 4 to 1.

Republicans and independents have not changed their views much. The big change is among Democrats: Those with unfavorable views of Netanyahu have increased from 22 percent in 2014 to 34 percent, and those holding favorable views have decreased from 25 percent to 18 percent.