American voters are still very supportive of the Jewish state but are not confident that the US/Israeli relationship will improve in the short term.  That’s the bottom-line opinion of American voters according to a new Rasmussen poll. The surprising part of the poll is the disconnect between voting patterns and support for Israel.  While the Democratic party continues to garner the majority of the Jewish vote, it is the Republican party that shows the most support for Israel

Rasmussen asked the question “Is Israel an Ally of the United States? Enemy? Something in Between?  Not Sure?”

The vast majority of Americans (57%)  feel that Israel is indeed an ally, 33% say something in between and the remainder is equally split between the other two groups.

A sizable number of U.S. voters continue to believe that relations between Israel and the United States will worsen in the year ahead.When you look at it on a party by party basis, both are supporters but GOP voters are significantly more (30%)  likely to consider Israel an ally. The majority of independent voters (53%) consider Israel an ally while 39% feel its something in between.

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When asked if US/Israel relations will be better or worse a year from now, a plurality 49% believe that they will probably be around the same, only 13% believe it will get better and 29% believe it will be worse. This is probably a reaction to President Obama’s confrontational anti-Israel policies.  Just as in the above there are major differences.  The Republicans who, based on their support of Israel, would be more likely to oppose the administration’s Israel policies are more pessimistic for the future, 12% believe things will be better in a year, 39% worse and 40% the same.  Democrats whose President is in power, are more confident that Obama will be able to turn things around, 20% believe things will be better in a year, 16% worse and 54% the same

Because we are passed the mid-term elections and the President is in “re-election mode” those who feel that things will be the same are probably correct. Obama and his political team are not going to alienate the Jewish vote before the 2012 election. After the election, if Obama wins (God forbid), all bets are off and friends of Israel of any faith should be concerned about American/Israel relations.

There is an ominous sign, Democrats do not support Israel the way they used to, and the progressives who have control of the party are the most anti-Israel as they come. All you have to do is look at the progressive Daily Kos, and the progressive Huffington Post.

On the other hand the Republican party clearly supports Israel both in attitude and policy, yet they are not rewarded for their pro-Israel stance with political support. One of these days the GOP may bring back the bad old days of James Baker, “F**K The Jews, They won’t vote for us anyway!”