Press Release

Poll: Israeli Jews Back Romney, While Israeli Arabs Support Obama

Poll: Israeli Jews Back Romney, While Israeli Arabs Support Obama Unprecedented Israeli Election Turnout Possible

POLL: ISRAELI JEWS BACK ROMNEY, WHILE ISRAELI ARABS SUPPORT OBAMA

Unprecedented Israeli Election Turnout Possible

Sunday, October 28, 2012, Israel Democracy Institute, 4 Pinsker St., Jerusalem – The October 2012 results of the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University's monthly Peace Index reveal marked differences between Israeli voters.

  • Support for US Presidential Candidates: As in July, a clear majority of Jewish Israelis prefer Republican candidate Governor Mitt Romney (57%) over incumbent President Barack Obama (22%). Support for Romney includes 70% of self-defined right-wingers, 54% of centrists, and 30% of left-wingers. However, a plurality of Arab Israelis prefers Obama (45%) over Romney (15%).
  • Affect of US Elections on Israeli Voters: More than two-thirds of Israeli Jews (69%) do not believe that the results of the US's Nov. 6th elections will affect the outcome of Israeli elections, while 51% of Israeli Arabs believe they will.
  • Israeli Election Voter Turnout: Israeli election turnout may increase dramatically. 90% of Jewish Israelis are either certain or believe they will vote. 2009 voter turnout was 68%.
  • Ideology vs. Party Leader: While a majority of Jewish Israelis (52%) believe that party ideology should be the deciding factor in casting one's vote, only a minority of Arab Israelis (29%) would agree.
  • Negotiating with the Palestinians: A majority of Jewish Israelis (53%) believe that there was no real opportunity for the current government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to renew negotiations with the Palestinians. A majority of Arab Israelis (59%) believe otherwise.

Conducted with 601 respondents which make up a representative sample of Israel's adult population, the survey was carried out between October 22 and 24 and has a margin of error of 4.5%.


The full results of the Peace Index will be available October 29, 2012 on the Peace Index website.


For more information or to schedule an interview with Peace Index Co-Director Prof. Tamar Hermann, contact:
Yehoshua Oz
IDI Director of International Communications
press@idi.org.il
###