Poll: 53% of Americans don’t trust Netanyahu

Majority of Republicans trust Netanyahu to do the right thing in world affairs, while overwhelming majority of Democrats distrust the Israeli premier.

By World Israel News Staff

A majority of Americans do not trust Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do the right thing regarding world affairs, according to a new survey.

A growing number of Americans say they have heard of Prime Minister Netanyahu, a poll by the Pew Research Center has found, with a growing number of Americans expressing little to no confidence in Netanyahu to “do the right thing regarding world affairs.”

The poll, which was conducted between April 1st through the 7th, surveyed 3,600 Americans regarding their familiarity with the Israeli leader and their confidence in his decision-making regarding world affairs.

Notably, the timing of the survey coincided with the accidental killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in the Gaza Strip, who died after their convoy was mistakenly struck by IDF drone aircraft on April 1st.

Netanyahu’s name recognition among respondents rose from 74% to 85% from February to April, with the sharpest increase among adults under 30, with just 50% saying they had heard of Netanyahu in the February poll, compared to 70% in April.

Most young adults, however, said they knew little to nothing about Netanyahu, with just 13% in both April and February responding that they know “some” or “a lot” about the Israeli leader.

April’s poll found a statistically negligible decline of two points in the percentage of Americans who say they have confidence in the Israeli premier to “do the right thing regarding world affairs,” from 32% to 30%, while the percentage who said they have little to no confidence rose from 42% to 53%, fueled primarily by a decline in the number of respondents who said they had never heard of Netanyahu before.

Similar to patterns of support for Israel, Americans’ views on Netanyahu demonstrated a clear partisan divide, with few self-described Democrats (13%) saying they had some or “a lot” of confidence in Netanyahu, compared to 51% of Republicans.

By contrast, 71% of Democrats said they have little to no confidence in Netanyahu, while just 34% of Republicans said the same.

Amongst Republicans, 62% of conservatives said they have confidence in Netanyahu, compared to just 31% of self-described liberal and moderate Republicans.

Older Americans were also significantly more likely to have confidence in Netanyahu, with 45% of respondents over 65 saying they had “some” or “a lot” of confidence in Netanyahu, compared to just 14% of adults under 30.

Benjamin NetanyahuPew PollPew Research CenterU.S.-Israel relations