Israel falls to 16th place in US popularity survey
The survey, which asked respondents to rank which countries they viewed as the US's best friends and allies, saw Israel drop from 6th place to 16th in the span of three years.
In a similar survey conducted three years ago, Israel was ranked in 6th place. According to NYT, this trend points to the reduction in the status of Israel among Americans, Democrat and Republican alike.
Repubilcan respondents ranked Israel in fifth place, despite ranking it in second place in 2014. Democratic respondents deteriorated more noticeably, ranking Israel in 28th place. Three years ago, Democratic respondents placed Israel in 20th place.
Who are the greatest allies and friends of the United States according to Americans? The following 15 countries countries ranked ahead of Israel: Canada, Britain, Australia, France, Ireland, Italy, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Holland, Denmark, Finland and Spain.
While, America’s relationship with Israel may have weakened in the past three years, the position regarding the Palestinians has not improved much. The “Palestinian Territories” as they are referred to in the survey came in at an abysmal 135th place (10 spots ahead of last place). This ranking represents a decrease from the 2014 survey.
This decrease occurred despite a slight improvement in the rankings of both Republicans and Democrats. Democrats ranked Palestinians at 132nd place (an improvement over 134th place 3 years ago), while Republican respondents ranked Palestinians at 137th place (an improvement over 139th place from 2014).
Arab and Islamic countries as a whole did not fare well on the survey, with the highest rated countries being Morocco (47), Malaysia (51), Indonesia (52) and Jordan (57). Egypt, one of the United States’ most important Middle Eastern allies, rose from 101 to 63, while Saudi Arabia stood at 126th place.
The question asked of respondents was: “What do you think of all the countries on the list in front of you—is it an ally of the United States or an enemy?” Respondents were further requested to categorize the countries as “allies,” “friendly,” “unfriendly” or “enemy.”
