8 March 28 • 2019 jn views G allup’ s 2019 World Affairs Survey confirms something that’ s held true for decades: Most American voters, whether Democrat or Republican, support and sympathize with Israel. Reading the report amid the national uproar over Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar’ s tweets about the Israel lobby, several writers have focused on what they see as declin- ing support for Israel among liberal Democrats, who represent 56 percent of the party, Gallup senior editor Lydia Saad told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Yet according to Gallup, support for Israel among liberal Democrats has remained consistent (and the majority position) for at least the past decade. For all the talk of their hostility toward Israel in recent weeks, 58 percent of liberal Democrats and 66 percent of moderate/conservative Democrats view Israel favorably, and only 9 percent of Democrats view Israel very unfavorably. But Republicans, who often point to declining support for Israel among Democrats, should also be paying atten- tion to similar trends in their own party. The largest recorded drop this year is the percentage of Republicans — not Democrats — who sympathize more with Israel than with the Palestinians. Republican sympathies for Israel fell 11 percentage points this year, to 76 percent from 87 percent, a slightly lower level of sympathy than Gallup has recorded in the last decade. Support for Israel among Republicans certainly remains robust, with 43 per- cent of Republicans reporting a “very favorable” view of the country. But there are signs that this support should not be taken for granted. A significant minority of Republicans, for a variety of reasons, are eschewing America’ s traditional alliance with Israel and are skeptical of President Donald Trump’ s ability to han- dle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Despite the fact that Trump’ s approval rating among Republicans is 90 percent, Gallup found that 32 percent of conser- vatives (and 18 percent of Republicans) feel that the president is not doing enough to find a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This might be because more than one- third of Republicans also feel that Trump is favoring Israel too much. Last year, the University of Maryland’ s Critical Issues Poll found that while a majority (57 per- cent) of Republicans do want the Trump administration to lean toward Israel when mediating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a significant minority — 39 per- cent — do not. “While support for Israel remains high among Republicans and sympathy remains high, all is not perfect, ” said Shibley Telhami, who directs the Critical Issues Poll. It’ s not just pollsters who feel this way. conservatives invested in the U.S.-Israel relationship also echo this sentiment. “While the real challenge today might be on the left, we can never take the conservative base for granted, ” David Brog, a Jewish American who served as executive director of Christians United For Israel from 2006 to 2015, told JTA. “[These findings are] a timely reminder that there’ s always work to be done. ” America, including the Republican Party, is only getting younger and more diverse. Millennials, now in their mid- 20s and 30s, make up the largest share of the labor force and the voting public. If it hopes to continue winning elections, the Republican Party will have to appeal to both of these groups — and members of both are increasingly skeptical of uncriti- cal support for Israel. Before pointing fingers at declining support for Israel in the other party, pro-Israel Republicans ought to take a good look at the state of affairs in their own house. ■ Laura E. Adkins is JTA’ s opinion editor. commentary The Republican Party Has Its Own Israel Problem Laura E. Adkins JTA guest column Let the Sun Shine on State Records F our years ago, two state legislators were rumored to be misusing state resources while covering up the affair they were having with each other. This couldn’ t be imme- diately proven, however, because reporters couldn’ t access documents in their state offices that would reveal the details behind the cover-up. That’ s because Michigan is one of only two states in the nation that does not subject the governor or state legislators to the existing open records law called the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA. At the time, in the fall of 2015, then- Rep. Jeremy Moss was a freshman House Democrat determined to change this legal blind spot and drafted a series of bills to expand access to government records. While he was working on these bills, a story more substantial than a minor political sex scan- dal broke that thrust this work in Michigan into the national spotlight: the Flint water crisis. These scandals — big and small — and the lack of information of how they were carried out are part of the reason Michigan ranks dead last among all 50 states in government ethics, according to a study by the Center for Public Integrity. Their report measured 13 functions of government and Michigan failed 10 of them, including public access to infor- mation, legislative accountability and executive accountability. With the increasing scrutiny on the lack of government oversight that term, the transparency legislation moved successfully through the House of Representatives, but the bills have never been taken up in the Michigan Senate. This year, however, things are differ- ent. Moss is now serving in the Senate, where he is ready to usher this legislation through the upper legislative chamber after it recently passed the House, with the help of new House bill sponsor Rep. Ryan Berman. Moss and Berman also gained a critical partner in Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who has sought to increase transparency in state govern- ment even in these early days of her administration. In just four years, these efforts went from earning only a few champions in 2015 to being lauded by the governor in her State of the State address in 2019. The time to let the sun shine on Michigan government is imminent, and it is on us to own that opportunity. This bipartisan coalition is committed to see- ing this issue through — once and for all. ■ Sen. Jeremy Moss (D–Southfield), the lead author of the Legislative Open Records Act for the last four years, represents citizens of the 11th District in Oakland County that includes Farmington, Farmington Hills, Ferndale, Hazel Park, Huntington Woods, Lathrup Village, Madison Heights, Oak Park, Pleasant Ridge City, Royal Oak Township and Southfield. Rep. Ryan Berman (R–Commerce Township), who sponsored the House Bill 4011 of 2019 in the Legislative Open Records Act, represents citizens of the 39th District in Oakland County that includes the city of Wixom, Commerce Township, a portion of West Bloomfield Township and the village of Wolverine Lake. Sen. Jeremy Moss Rep. Ryan Berman NIKKI CASEY FOR JTA