A new poll from the Israel Democracy Institute shows that Arab Israelis, like their Jewish counterparts, would prefer to see former President Donald Trump win the U.S. presidential election rather than Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump’s overall lead among Israeli voters widens in the poll, with 65% of Israelis favoring Trump and only 13% favoring Harris. Among Jewish Israelis, the lead is even wider, with 72% for Trump and only 11% for Harris.
But it is the result among Israeli Arabs, the vast majority of whom are Muslim, that is perhaps most surprising.
The Israel Democracy Institute explained in a press release on Monday, November 4 (emphasis added):
We asked: “In terms of Israel’s interests, which of the two candidates for the US presidency would be better?” Nearly two-thirds of the total sample say former President Donald Trump is better for Israel’s interest, compared to only 13% who say Vice President Kamala Harris is better, and 15.5% who maintain there is no difference between them.
In the Jewish sample, the gap is even more significant: 72% think Trump is better for Israel’s interests compared to 11% who think Harris is better. Among Arabs, the largest group of respondents (46%) maintains that there is no difference between the two, while the rest are divided, with a slight advantage for Trump (27% versus 22.5% for Harris).
The difference among Arab voters — 4.5% — is outside the poll’s margin of error of 3.58% at a confidence level of 95%.
Trump is making a late push among Arab voters, both Christian and Muslim, in Michigan, ahead of Election Day. He is promising that he can make peace in the region, as he did during his first term, and where President Joe Biden and Harris had failed.
Some Arab American voters — including those who favor the Palestinians — are receptive to that message.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
