US Jews are satisfied with the performance of President Barack Obama, far more than their non-Jewish compatriots. Additionally, almost 75% of US Jews are satisfied to some degree with the state of US-Israel relations, according to the 2010 Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion, sponsored by the American Jewish Committee (AJC).
The survey found that 57% of US Jews approve way Barack Obama is handling his job as President, compared with 38% who do not approve. Although his approval rating among Jews has eroded since 78% of US Jews voted for Obama in November 2008, the current level of support is significantly higher than among the general population.
A CBS survey conducted between March 29 and April 1 found that Obama's approval rating had fallen to 44%, 24 percentage points lower than in April 2009. A Rasmussen survey in late March found that 43% of Americans have great reservations about Obama's performance.
The AJC survey found that 55% of US Jews approve of how Obama is handling US-Israeli relations and 37% disapprove. The approval rating is slightly higher than in the 2009 AJC survey, when 54% of US Jews approved Obama's handling US-Israeli relations and 32% disapprove.
57% of US Jews approve how the Netanyahu government is handling of Israel-US relations, and 30% disapproved.
63% of respondents said that the current relations between Israel and the US were "somewhat positive", and 10% said that they were "very positive". The corresponding responses in the 2009 survey were 70% and 11%.
The survey was conducted between March 2 and 23, ending a day before Obama met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House; a meeting described as deliberately humiliating for Netanyahu and considered as a watershed in US-Israeli relations.
The telephone survey, conducted by Synovate of 800 self-identifying Jewish respondents, has a margin of error of 3%.
A survey by J Street, a US Jewish lobby that seeks to promote Israeli-Palestinian peace, found that 59% of US Jews support Obama and 44% support Netanyahu. This survey was also conducted before the Obama-Netanyahu meeting, but after Vice President Joseph Biden's visit to Israel, during which the Ministry of Interior announced building permits for 1,600 apartments in Jerusalem's Ramat Shlomo neighborhood, located beyond the Green Line.
A survey by the Smith Institute for 'The Jerusalem Post" on March 26 found that 48% of Israeli Jews said that Obama is pro-Palestinian, and only 9% said that he was pro-Israel. This survey did not directly ask about Obama's general job performance.
The AJC survey found that 56% of US Jews believe that some Jewish settlements in the West Bank should be dismantled as part of a permanent settlement with the Palestinians, and 8% said that all settlements should be dismantled. 34% said that no settlements should be dismantled.
61% of respondents said that, as part of a permanent peace with the Palestinians, Israel should not be willing to compromise on the status of Jerusalem as a united city under Israeli jurisdiction, compared with 35% who said that Israel should compromise. 48% support the establishment of a Palestinian state in the current circumstances, and 45% do not support this.
94% of respondents said that the Palestinians must recognize Israel as part of a final peace agreement.
30% of respondents said that they were "very close" to Israel and 44% said that they were "fairly close". Orthodox Jews were in the lead, with 77% saying that they felt "very close" to Israel.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 11, 2010
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