Does Obama's 54% Approval Rating With Israelis Constitute A Surge? (Updated)

Despite what Mitt Romney says, this is what we should know. Jewish Israeli Support For Obama Surges http://zite.to/tj57wz
Donna Brazile, Veteran Democratic political strategist

Of course, all things are relative.

It is now being reported that Obama has a 54% approval rating with Israelis:

The poll, from the Brookings Institution, finds that 54% of Jewish Israelis have a favorable view of President Obama. That is an increase of 13% over the 2010 survey, when 41% had a positive view of the president.

Back in July 24, 2008, a poll indicated that Israelis preferred Obama over John McCain by a 37%-28% margin.

But an article on the Fox News website noted back in June, 2009 how volatile Israeli support for Obama can be--In May 2009, a poll showed that only 6% of Israelis thought Obama was pro-Israel

Just a month later, a poll in June 2009 showed that 31% of Israelis thought Obama was pro-Israel

Personally, if I was pro-Obama, I wouldn't tout the spike as a "surge".
We all know how temporary those can be.

UPDATE: And if the Democrats really want to crow about the numbers--let's compare Obama's approval numbers with other presidents, like Shmuel Rosner did:

While one must agree with Harris that Republicans would hardly make an effort to share the wonderful news with supporters, the first statement by Harris might be an overstatement. Yes, more Israelis hold favorable view of President Obama. But not “Israelis”. When “Israelis” (in this case Jewish Israelis) hold favorable view of an American President it looks more like this (62% for Bush, including Arab Israelis – meaning more than 70% among Jewish Israelis), or like this (sorry, Hebrew, 70% favorability for Bush).

Point being: Granted that Israelis view Obama more favorably, 3 years after they have gotten to know Obama, they see that for all his boasting, Bush was better.

And Bush didn't have to boast about it.

Hat tip: DG

Technorati Tag: Israel and Obama.