Shmuel Rosner, the former U.S. correspondent for Haaretz and now an L.A. Jewish Journal blogger, has for a few election cycles now run a panel of Israeli experts whom he regularly surveys for their views on American presidential politics. Then he adds up their numerical answers for a quantitative ranking of the two party’s candidates.
Well, for the first time ever, President Obama has drawn (ever so slightly) ahead of Mitt Romney in the Israel Factor panelists’ collective esteem. (For the previous two months, they were tied.) What changed?
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According to Rosner: First, some of the panelists thought Romney was “playing politics” on his Israel visit, and second, “Obama’s seemingly tough position on the Iranian issue is making a difference.”
Indeed, according to the panel’s collective judgment, Obama is seen as slightly more likely than Romney to use force against Iran if diplomacy doesn’t work.
Hat tip: Politico
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