NEW Poll shows Canadian politicians out of touch with public on Israel/Palestine
February 17, 2017Disconnect: Canadians’ views of the Israeli government vs. Canadian government policy toward Israel and Palestine
Issued by: Independent Jewish Voices Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East
Murray Dobbin Dimitri Lascaris, LL.B. Authored by Diana Ralph
Executive Summary
Read the full report here: http://bit.ly/2lVywMl
This survey exposes a dramatic disconnect between the opinions of Canadians and the positions of a government that is supposed to represent them. We found that Canadians tend to view the Israeli government negatively. But both the Harper and Trudeau governments have been unquestioningly supportive of Israel’s Government, regardless of its escalating violations of international law and human rights.
Study description: This study reports on the findings of a national on-line survey conducted by EKOS Research Associates of 1,000 Canadians conducted between January 25 to February 2, 2017, which explored their attitudes toward the Israeli government, their perception of whether the Canadian government and media are biased toward Israel or Palestine, and their opinion of whether they believe criticism of Israeli government policy is necessarily anti-Semitic.
Perception of the Israeli government: Of those who had an opinion, far more Canadians had a negative (46%) than a positive (28%) opinion of the Israeli government.
Political affiliation: Liberal, NDP, Green, and Bloc supporters were far more likely to have a negative (ranging from 55% to 78%) opinion of the Israeli government than a positive one (ranging from 5% to 22%). Conversely, those who support the Conservative Party were far more likely to hold a positive (58%) than a negative (21%) opinion of the Israeli government.
Age: Younger Canadians (under 35 years old) (51%) tended to hold a negative view of the Israeli government, while those over 65 were most likely to have positive views of the Israeli government (37%).
Education level: Those with high school or less education had the most positive view of the Israeli government (33%), while those with Bachelors or Post-graduate degrees had the most negative view of the Israeli government (60% and 57%, respectively).
Religion: Non-religious (58%) and Catholic (51%) respondents had the most negative opinion of the Israeli government. Conversely, Jews (61%), Protestants (48%) and Other Christians (47%) had the most positive opinion of the Israeli government.
Ethnicity: In all ethnic categories including ethnically identified Jews, more respondents held negative than positive opinions of the Israeli government. Most negative views of the Israeli government were found among those who defined their ethnicity as “French” (51%), “British Isles” (51%), or whose ethnicity was a “visible minority” (51%).
Region: A larger proportion (57%) of Quebec residents held a negative view of the Israeli government than residents of any other region.
Perception of Canadian government bias: Among those with an opinion, far more Canadians believe that the Canadian government is pro-Israel (61%) than pro-Palestinian (16%). Among Liberal, NDP, Greens, and Bloc respondents, far more (ranging from 70% to 77%) believe the Canadian government is pro-Israel. But among Conservatives, only 42% believe the government is pro-Israel.
Perception of Canadian media bias: Among those with an opinion, a plurality of Canadians view the media as neither pro-Israel nor pro-Palestinian (45%). More Liberal, NDP, Bloc, and Green respondents tend to view the media as pro-Israel (ranging from 36% to 43%) versus proPalestinian (ranging from 8 to 11%). More Conservatives, by contrast, tend to view the media as pro-Palestinian (44%) versus pro-Israel (23%).
Among those with an opinion, almost all (91%) accept the view that criticism of Israeli government policy like criticism of any other country and is not necessarily anti-Semitic. Religious Jews (22%) and Protestants (18%) were most likely to view criticism of Israeli government policy as necessarily anti-Semitic. However, ethnically identified Jews (only 7%) were not as likely to share this view.
KEEP READING FOR THE FULL REPORT: http://bit.ly/2lVywMl
