Only 49 percent of Israeli respondents said they have “confidence” in President Obama. Photo: Screenshot.

JNS.org – Israelis are showing a steep decline in their confidence in U.S. President Barack Obama’s handling of world affairs, according to a new Pew Research Center survey on global attitudes.

In a survey of 1,000 people in dozens of countries during April and May, Pew asked, “How much confidence do you have in U.S. President Barack Obama to do the right thing regarding world affairs?” Only 49 percent of Israeli respondents said they have “confidence” in the American leader, while 50 percent of Israelis answered that they have “no confidence.”

This marks a steep drop in support from 2014, when 71 percent of Israelis expressed confidence in Obama. But Israel was still one of the most Obama-supportive countries in the Middle East, with only 45 percent of respondents in Turkey, 36 percent in Lebanon, 15 percent of Palestinians, and 14 percent in Jordan saying that they have confidence in Obama’s handling of world affairs. Additionally, most Israelis overwhelmingly disapprove of how Obama is dealing with the Iranian nuclear program.

Not surprisingly, Israel was also the most supportive country polled (84 percent) when it came support for U.S. military actions against the Islamic State terror group in Syria and Iraq, ranking even higher than American public support (80 percent) for those actions. Israelis also had overwhelmingly favorable views of the U.S. in general, at 81 percent.