The Trump administration threatened to end billions of dollars in US foreign aid to countries opposing recent US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. On December 21, 2017 despite US threats, 128 UN member states voted to uphold longstanding international consensus that the status of Jerusalem can only be settled through a peace deal between Israel and Palestinians. An additional 35 countries abstained. Both Palestinians and Israelis want Jerusalem to be their capital.
According to a poll conducted between December 22-January 2, the majority of Americans (56.6%) oppose using US foreign aid as a tool to coerce international recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The IRmep poll was fielded by Google surveys to 2,505 adult Internet users from December 22-January 2 and has an RMSE score of 7.6%. Demographic filtering and raw data are available online from Google.
The results are unusual since other polling consistently reveals widespread public support for cutting US foreign aid, which most Americans believe is much more than it actually is. American popular opposition to reducing US foreign aid may therefore be opposition to using US aid to advance what is inherently an Israeli, rather than American, foreign policy.
| I oppose the tactic. | 56.6% | |
| I approve of the tactic. | 38.6% | |
| Other | 4.8% |
Survey developed by: IRmep
Survey fielded by: Google Surveys 12/22/2017
Representative Sample size: 2,500
Google survey page (link)
Raw survey data from Google (Download)
In the News:
Antiwar.com Poll: Americans oppose cutting aid to countries that condemn US Jerusalem policy – 1/5/2018