 The
Arab American National Museum
Survey:
Arab and Jewish Americans
Human Rights in
the US
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Last update - 21:06 31/10/2007
McCain has the policy and the leadership. But love for Israel? Not
so much
From the start, Senator John McCain was doing fine as far as the
Israel Factor goes. In the
first survey he was third out of
24, and in the
fifth he was third out of 19.
We pitted him against other candidates more than once. Comparing him
to both Rudy Giuliani (against whom
he was always ahead in the eyes of the
panel), and Hillary Clinton, we
concluded that:
"The four panelists who thought Clinton is better [than McCain] were the
same panelists who gave McCain the lowest grades on the question his
emotional attachment to Israel. This, evidently, is an important
question, and probably the most profound reason why Giuliani keeps
getting better marks than McCain (and Clinton). The panelists
highlighted the "emotional attachment" as the most distinctive
difference between the two, with McCain scoring 2.75 to Giuliani's
4.12".
This week, we tested McCain again, asking the panel to read his new
Foreign Affairs
article. We asked about the
article, and the panel said it was basically sound (giving him score of
3.75 out of a possible 5). But when we asked if it changed the
panelists' minds on the senator, we got a resounding "No."
Reading the article, the panel concluded that McCain might want Israel
to engage Syria more than Bush does (scoring him 3.125 out of a possible
5), might pressure Israel on settlements more than Bush (but not by
much, he also got 3.125 for this - but I have the feeling that on this
the panel is
wrong).
The experts also think that McCain is more determined to stop Iran's
nuclear program than other candidates (3.875). The subject of Iran, as
we made clear
many times in the past, is more
important to the panel than most of the other issues.
In our latest monthly survey, McCain was
fourth trailing Giuliani, Clinton
and Mayor Bloomberg of New York. As we
explained at the time, there is
more than one possible reason for that:
"Giuliani and Clinton, who are leading the general polls, are also the
leaders of the "Good for Israel" ranking. This raises another question,
one that in all honesty no one can really answer. Is this similarity
proof that the panel is influenced by these polls, and reacting to them
it is elevating the most viable candidates to the top of the list? Or
maybe it is the other way around: candidates that seem best for America
in the voters' eyes are also those who tend to express views that seem
to be best for Israel?"
So we tried to also ask the panel more general questions about McCain.
The panelists got a list of options and were asked to judge to what
extent they are compatible with their view of McCain. Here it is:
So this is the way the panel sees him, starting with the first poll, and
basically unchanged until now. The panelists like his policy, admire his
leadership skills and recognize his bold stand on Iran.
But they also suspect that on the "emotional attachment" test, he will
not fare as well. Israelis, like all other nations, prefer the American
president to be not just an ally, but also a friend. Bill Clinton was
such a friend, George Bush is such a friend. The panel seems to trust
Giuliani and the other Clinton to be such friends too.
But John McCain? Not so much, until proven otherwise (the panel gave him
a score of 2.75 out 5). They just don't see it in him.
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