Poll Watch: The Priority Gap

I should have more to say tomorrow.

I’m busy right now with family, but I wanted to share this new post-election poll.

A whopping 4% of Americans rank “Middle East conflict / Israel-Palestine” as one of their top three political priorities. It is also only 4% of Republican voters. 3x more Republican voters care about “poverty / hunger / homelessness” than what is going on in Israel.

Activists are out of touch with political reality:

• Activists are obsessed with Israel, Americans are not, Republican voters are not, even Jews are not obsessed with Israel. Only 9% of American Jews say Israel is one of their top two issues.
• Activists are far more likely than the average American to perceive Republican voters as being motivated by support for Israel. 7% of Americans think Israel is one of the most important issues to Republican voters. The actual number is 4%. It is probably like 90% of activists.
• Americans and Republicans are pro-Israel, but support for Israel is shallow. Most people don’t care or think much about what goes on in Israel and the Middle East. They might have a vaguely positive opinion of Israel, but it doesn’t motivate or move them.
• The “anti-Zionist” political strategy is to sit out every election, demobilize Whites and surrender every other issue like immigration, which unlike support for Israel actually strikes a chord with voters, until presumably “Zionism” is defeated. The problem with this is that NO ONE CARES about Israel or Zionism except a small number of obsessed wealthy donors and activists. Punishing White people with mass immigration and other destructive policies until they care about Israel / Palestine as much as activists is absurd and a political dead end.

Anyway, the point is that the overwhelming focus by activists on “Zionism” and “anti-Zionism” is a losing political strategy. Americans do not prioritize foreign policy. They don’t look at what goes on in Israel, Palestine and Lebanon and see it as having any direct impact on their lives.

Contrast crime and violence (20% nationwide and 25% with Republican voters) with the 4% who rank Israel / Palestine as a top political priority. Crime is perceived as 4x to 5x more relevant. All demographic groups rank the “cost of living” as the most important issue.

Activists have shifted all of our attention toward the Middle East at the expense of far more potent issues in this country like immigration, cost of living, jobs, healthcare, free speech, etc.

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