The pollsters surveyed 450 “elites” and opinion-makers — defined as those working as journalists, legislators or businesspeople — 400 American Jews and 600 members of the general public. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percent.
More than two-thirds of the general public and three-quarters of the elites view Israel favorably, according to the survey.
Two-thirds of the general public and elites also said the United States should help defend Israel militarily, if need be.
Only 18 percent of the general public has a favorable attitude toward the Palestinian Authority, and 28 percent are favorably inclined toward the group’s president, Yasser Arafat.
A majority believes Palestinian leaders are inciting the current Mideast violence to get what they failed to achieve through negotiations.
The results surprised some Jewish leaders. While editorial pages of U.S. newspapers generally have been supportive of Israel, Jewish leaders feared television coverage had made a more negative — and lasting — impression.
“The American people get it to a greater degree than we’d assumed,” Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said at a news conference Tuesday announcing the results.