Israel Polls Poorly
Among Dem Elites

David Horovitz
Times of Israel

T

hree quarters of highly edu-
cated, high-income, publicly
active U.S. Democrats — the
so-called "opinion elites" — believe
Israel has too much influence on U.S.
foreign policy, almost half of them
consider Israel to be a racist country,
and fewer than half of them believe
that Israel wants peace with its neigh-
bors. These are among the findings of
a new survey carried out by political
consultant Frank Luntz.
Detailing the
survey results to
the Times of Israel
on Sunday, Luntz
called the findings "a
disaster" for Israel.
He summed them
up by saying that the
Democratic opinion
Frank Luntz
elites are converting
to the Palestinians,
and "Israel can no
longer claim to have the bipartisan
support of America:'
He said he "knew there was a
shift" in attitudes about Israel among
Democrats "and I have been seeing it
get worse" in his ongoing polls. But the
new findings surprised and shocked
him, nonetheless. "I didn't expect it to
become this blatant and this deep:'
A prominent political consul-
tant known best for his work with
Republicans, Luntz is meeting with a
series of high-level Israeli officials this
week to discuss the survey and consult
on how to grapple with the trends it
exposes.
"I'm right of center:' he said. "But
the Israeli government and U.S. Jews
have to focus on repairing relations
with the Democrats:'
Luntz put a series of largely Israel-
related questions to 802 members of
the opinion elites, and his findings
have a 3.5 percent margin of error.
The survey, sponsored by the Jewish
National Fund, was conducted last
week. Among the key findings:
• Asked about Israeli influence on
U.S. foreign policy, an overwhelming
76 percent of Democrats, as compared
to 20 percent of Republicans, said
Israel has "too much influence:'
• Asked whether Israel is a rac-
ist country, 47 percent of Democrats
agreed it is, as opposed to 13 percent
of Republicans. Another 21 percent

of Democrats didn't know or were
neutral (as opposed to 12 percent of
Republicans), and only 32 percent of
Democrats disagreed when asked if
Israel is a racist country, as opposed to
76 percent of Republicans. (Overall 32
percent of those polled said Israel is a
racist country)
• Asked whether they would be
more likely to vote for a local politician
who supported Israel and its right to
defend itself, an overwhelming 76 per-
cent of Republicans said yes, but only
18 percent of Democrats said yes.
• Asked about which side they
themselves support, 88 percent
of Republicans and 46 percent of
Democrats said they were "pro-Israeli"
while 4 percent of Republicans and 27
percent of Democrats said they were
"pro-Palestinian:"
A specialist in finding and testing
the language that can impact public
opinion, Luntz was vehement that
Israel's "messaging" has to be different
if support for Israel among Democrats
is to be revived.
"And the Republicans have to real-
ize that their rhetoric is part of the
problem: It's not security that needs
to be highlighted, but [Israel's] social
justice and human rights, he said.
Underlining Israel's role in protecting
human rights and promoting equal-
ity could be particularly resonant, he
added.
Still more drastically, Luntz said the
word "Zionism" could play no part in
messaging designed to repair relations
wih Democrats. "You can't make the
case if you use that word:' he said.
He also predicted that Israel is in
for "a lot more trouble" from the BDS
(Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions)
campaign. Once they had been
informed about the BDS campaign, 19
percent of respondents supported it —
31 percent of Democrats and 3 percent
of Republicans. And, stressed Luntz,
60 percent of America's opinion elites
said they were not familiar with BDS.
"Israel is already having trouble with
BDS, and Americans don't even know
what it means. Can you imagine how
bad it will get?"
He also foresaw a looming battle
in the U.S. over foreign aid to Israel.
Some 33 percent of Democrats and 22
percent of Republicans, his poll found,
were upset that "Israel gets billions and
billions of dollars in funding from the
U.S. government that should be going
to the American people:'

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