The approval rating for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have plunged among Democrats in the United States since he made his controversial speech to Congress earlier this month, a new poll shows.
The Gallup poll says his overall favorability rating among Americans is down 7 percentage points from last month, to 38 percent, while his unfavorable rating has increased five points to 29 percent.
But the survey blames the drop in the prime minister's popularity almost totally on adverse Democrat feelings over his congressional address that was organized by Republicans.
Only 17 percent of Democrats now say they have a favorable view of Netanyahu, while 46 percent view him unfavorably, an increase of 14 percentage points since February.
Among Republicans, 62 percent of respondents viewed him favorably, an increase of 2 points over the previous month, and 16 percent viewed him negatively, a decrease of 1 percentage point, the poll showed.
In his
address to Congress, Netanyahu angered Democrats when he denounced President Barack Obama's attempt at a nuclear deal with Iran, saying it would threaten the existence of Israel and would ultimately endanger the entire world.
"The visit appears to have soured Americans' views, specifically Democrats, though he remains more positively than negatively rated overall," said the survey. "Thirty-three percent of Americans do not have an opinion of Netanyahu, essentially unchanged from before the visit."
The poor approval ratings for House Speaker John Boehner, who arranged the Netanyahu address, have remained the same compared to last September. The new poll shows that 27 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of Boehner while 49 percent have an unfavorable one.
"Aside from a very brief honeymoon period after Boehner took office, Americans have rated him more negatively than positively during his time as speaker," the poll stated.
The survey of 1,025 American was conducted March 5-8 with an overall margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
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