Americans divided: Democrats prefer FRANCE to US, while Republicans like Israel better than Mexico & Cuba

Americans of rival political stripes are so divergent on their views of the world that the country Democrats favor even more than the US itself, France, ranks lower than Poland in the eyes of Republicans.

A poll released this week by YouGov Ratings showed that 71 percent of Democrats have a positive view of France, compared to just 43 percent of Republicans. The two sides were similarly divided over Mexico, with 58 percent of Democrats and 29 percent of Republicans holding a positive view.

The only country on which the two sides had an even bigger gap in opinion is Israel, which is liked by 69 percent of Republicans but only 36 percent of Democrats. Opinions of Israel among Democrats have worsened so much – 60 percent viewed it as positive in a 2013 Gallup poll – that the Jewish state is now viewed less favorably than Cuba (at 39 percent) or Kenya (43 percent).

Newsweek opinion editor Josh Hammer pointed out left-wing distaste for Israel on Thursday, tweeting that the preference for communist Cuba shows that “this is not JFK's Democratic Party.”

Responses on Twitter merely verified the shift, with one user saying, “Does Cuba deny a people the right to exercise their sovereignty, demolish their homes and confiscate their land?” 

“Democrats support people's right to self-determination over a regime that continues to violently expand into territories that they do not have legal rights to,” said another.

Only 16 percent of Republicans regarded Cuba positively, while Poland (50 percent) was more popular than France.

Perhaps even more meaningful, though, was the divergence of views among Democrats and Republicans about their own nation. Just 68 percent of Democrats said they have a positive view of the US, while 95 percent of Republicans gave their own country a thumbs-up. 

Democrat respondents ranked France and Ireland – both at 71 percent – higher than the US. Republicans actually like Ireland a bit more, at 74 percent.

The one country both parties seem to be more or less in agreement about was Russia, with a 19 percent positive rating among Republicans and 16 percent among Democrats.

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