A new poll by the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University finds that Israeli Jews favor Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney over President Barack Obama by a 3:1 margin. The poll shows a split with American Jews, who favor the president over the Republican challenger by a similar margin. The Peace Index Poll also shows Israeli Jews out of step with the rest of the world. A BBC poll published last week of nearly 22,000 people in 21 countries found Obama favored by an average of 50 percent, with only 9 percent for Romney. The president was the preferred candidate in every country polled except Pakistan. Tens of thousands of Israeli Jews are casting absentee ballots this week in advance of the closely fought U.S. election on November 6.