The 2011 poll of American Jewish public opinion was conducted during an historic time in American-Israeli relations.

Comparing the results of the Spring 2010 poll (in 2010, there were Fall and Spring polls), President Obama's overall approval rating of "his job as President" declined from 57% in Spring 2010 to 45% in Fall, 2011.

Similarly, approval of the "Obama Administration's handling of US-Israel relations" declined from 55% to 40%.

PLEASE NOTE: During the period of the 2011 survey, national and international debate focused on the planned application by Palestinian leaders for Palestine to be admitted to the United Nations as a State.

During the same period in 2011, considerable public criticism by some Jewish leaders focused on President Obama's perceived lack of support for Israel and his perceived lack of strong opposition to the Palestinian request.

President Obama's speech to the UN on the morning of September 21, 2011 occurred after the end of the interviewing period on September 20, 2011.

Please see the Spring 2010 AJC Poll at the Data Bank for an analysis of the political controversy occurring during that survey period.

Synovate's Consumer Opinion Panel list was used as the basis of the study; sample selected from self-identifying Jewish (by-religion) persons in the Synovate system.

Brief methodology discussion at end of 2011 report indicates a survey response rate of 24.3% (AAPOR RR3).

AJC Polls of American Jewish Public Opinion have been conducted since the early 1900's. Comparison of Jewish public opinion over time is enhanced since as many of the same questions have been used over more than a decade.

Results of the prior year polls are available at the Data Bank, although actual data file deposits with the Data Bank and its partner, the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, from Synovate essentially stopped since the 2005 Study.  Beginning in 2013 and continuing through 2018 (and most likely beyond) the AJC data files have once again been made publicly available through the DataBank via GfK Research and then SSRS-  with AJC's strong endorsement of making the data files available almost immediately after the first reports were released.

Researchers interested in the AJC Polls should review the section at the Data Bank devoted to the polls under Topical Reports, including the methodological article about the sample design referenced there.