Israel only Western country to prefer Trump over Biden, Pew finds
WASHINGTON – Israel is the only major Western country to view U.S. President Joe Biden less positively than his predecessor Donald Trump, according to a new 18-nation survey from the Pew Research Center.
The findings from the survey – conducted from February 14 to May 11, in order to gauge international attitudes toward the United States, NATO and Russia – come exactly three weeks before Biden is slated to make his first visit to Israel as president.
Sixty percent of Israelis have confidence in Biden doing the right thing in world affairs compared to 39 percent who do not – numbers that tally with the 17-country median. However, this is an 11-percentage-point drop from the 71 percent of Israelis who viewed Trump favorably in 2019 – the culmination of Trump’s 15-percentage-point rise in Israeli approval during his presidency.
Israeli views toward U.S. presidents have fluctuated considerably over the past several decades, with the all-time high being George W. Bush’s 83-percent approval rating in 2003. The all-time low was President Barack Obama’s 49-percent rating in 2011 and 2015, respectively.
Israel, however, is an outlier compared to the rest of the world when it comes to Biden’s relative popularity compared to other Western leaders.
Israelis rate Biden much higher than they do French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, for example: the European leaders each hold a 38-percent favorability rating in Israel, significantly below their 62 and 59 percent international averages.
Like most countries, Israelis’ views on Russia and Vladimir Putin dropped precipitously this past year following the invasion of Ukraine in February. Seventy-eight percent hold negative views of Russia, with 53 percent describing their view as very unfavorable. Only 19 percent of Israelis hold favorable views of Russia – a 26-point drop from 2019’s all-time high of 45 percent.
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Israel represents the fourth-largest drop in Russia’s popularity in the world, behind Italy, Greece and Poland.
Israel has little or no confidence in Putin, with 83 percent saying they don’t believe the Russian leader would do the right thing regarding world affairs (63 percent of those have no confidence at all), compared to the 16 percent who view him positively. This is below Putin’s international average of 90 and 9 percent, respectively.
Israel’s percentage split stands in stark contrast to 2001, when 55 percent of Israelis viewed Putin negatively, compared to 37 percent who had confidence in his ability to conduct appropriate international affairs.
Israel’s views on Chinese President Xi Jinping, meanwhile, are largely consistent with the world average, with Israelis giving him a 20-percent approval compared to the international median of 18 percent.
Israel is second only to South Korea in countries holding positive assessments of the United States, with 83 percent holding a favorable view of the country compared to 16 percent who hold unfavorable views. These numbers are consistent dating back to 2018, second only to Israel’s 2014 high of 84-percent favorability.
Furthermore, 31 percent of Israelis consider the United States a very reliable partner –the highest such share in the world – with 82 percent generally considering the United States to be reliable.
Israelis, meanwhile, tend to be more favorable than the international average when it comes to the U.S. political system. Sixty-six percent believe there is a strong or very strong conflict between people who support different American political parties against 26 percent who don’t – falling below the international median of 74 and 17 percent, respectively.
Israelis also tend to be less critical of Biden’s Afghanistan policy than others. Only 30 percent of Israelis believe the withdrawal was the incorrect decision, compared to a 39-percent international average. Exactly 50 percent of Israelis supported it, while 20 percent said they did not know – the second highest total in the world.
Only 51 percent of Israelis believe the Afghanistan withdrawal was not handled well, six percentage points below the international median, with 31 percent believing it was handled well and 19 percent not knowing.
Pew spoke to nearly 20,000 adults from Israel, the United States, Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea. Israel was one of two countries where surveys were conducted face-to-face.