US Midterm Elections: American Jews 'Voted Democrats and Support Two-State Solution'

A survey from a Democratic pollster on American Jewish voters has shown that the vast majority of them voted for Barack Obama's party candidate for Congress in the midterm elections.

While the Democrats suffered a stunning political defeat to the Republicans, who have gained at least seven Senate seats from their opponents and strengthened their power on Capitol Hill, American Jews reportedly voted for the Democratic candidate by a 69 to 28% margin.

The survey, conducted by GBA Strategies for the pro-Israel, pro-peace advocacy group J Street on 800 self-identified Jewish voters, also revealed that American Jews place themselves firmly at the left of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, supporting a US-brokered two-state solution on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Their visions appear to be closely connected to the Obama administration's approach to the peace process at a time when US-Israel diplomatic relations have hit an all-time low. The so-called "unbreakable" bond between the two longtime allies has been strained by a senior Obama administration official who referred to Bibi - Netanyahu's nickname - as a "chickensh*t" in an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg on the Atlantic.

But the 74% of American Jews in GBA study want the US to play an active role in the peace process and 76% of them support a US-compiled agreement. As the pollster claims in the survey, support for US engagement with both Israel and Palestine "is remarkably consistent over the past six years".

Surprisingly though, American Jews also overwhelmingly (84%) support a final agreement with Iran, Israel's arch-enemy, which allows the Islamic Republic to develop nuclear energy for civilian purposes, placing international inspectors at Iranian nuclear facilities.

"As President Obama heads into his final two years in office and a new Republican majority takes hold in the Senate, we can expect some high profile battles to emerge around Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the Iranian negotiations," GBA Strategies says in its conclusions. "This is a new dynamic and there are many unanswered questions regarding how the administration, Netanyahu, and the Republicans will sort out their differences."

The elections happen only three weeks before the end of the period dedicated to negotiations between Iran and six world powers, and just five days before the summit meeting of US Secretary of State John Kerry, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and outgoing EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton.

Haaretz newspaper reported that Netanyahu will probably lobby directly in Congress against any deal with Iran, after the Republican victory in the Senate in order to maintain the status quo of sanctions on the Islamic Republic.