Poll: Plurality of Americans View Netanyahu Favorably

A new Gallup poll shows that a plurality of Americans view Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu favorably, although there is a stark partisan divide between Democrats and Republicans.

The Aug. 21 poll found that 37 percent of Americans view Netanyahu favorably, while 29 percent did not; 13 percent said they had no opinion of him and an additional 22 percent said they had never heard of Netanyahu. The 37 percent figure puts Netanyahu behind German Chancellor Angela Merkel (39 percent), British Prime Minister Theresa May (46 percent) and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (48 percent) in terms of popularity among Americans. Behind Netanyahu in the survey are Russian President Vladimir Putin (13 percent) and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (six percent).

Gallup’s partisan breakdown revealed that Netanyahu is popular among Republicans, as 64 percent of them view the Israeli prime minister favorably, while only 17 percent of Democrats view Netanyahu favorably. Thirty percent of Independents view Netanyahu favorably.

The numbers on Netanyahu remain approximately the same from a 2015 Gallup poll stating that 38 percent of Americans view Netanyahu favorably while 29 percent did not.

“With limited trends with which to compare the current ratings, it’s not clear whether today’s party differences in leaders’ ratings are normal or the result of Trump’s unusually blunt public statements about many leaders provoking partisan reactions,” Gallup wrote in its analysis of the poll.

Read the full results of the poll here.