GALLUP POLL SHOWS DROP IN AMERICAN SUPPORT FOR PALIS

Gallup Poll Shows Dramatic Drop in Support for Palestinians (LGF)

A new Gallup poll shows that more Americans than ever before are beginning to face reality, after the Hamas landslide victory in Palestinian elections: 

Expectations of Middle East Peace Drop Following Hamas Victory. 

PRINCETON, NJ — Following the election of Hamas as the Palestinian Authority’s ruling party, Americans have grown more pessimistic that peace will ever be achieved in the Middle East, and increasingly sympathetic toward the Israelis. American opinions of the Palestinians had been improving in recent years, but now are among the worst Gallup has ever measured. Most Americans do not believe the United States should give any financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority — regardless of its stance toward Israel — and most say the United States should conduct diplomatic relations with the Palestinians (only) if they recognize Israel as a nation.

Hamas secured a majority of seats in the latest Palestinian parliament, raising worldwide concerns about what the militant organization, considered by many nations to be a terrorist group, might do with governing power. By a 2-1 margin, Americans now say there will never come a time when Israel and the Arab nations will live in peace, according to the annual Gallup Poll on World Affairs, conducted Feb. 6-9. The 65% to 32% split compares with a roughly 50-50 split last year. The current reading on this “future peace” measure, along with one other reading from August 2001, represents the most pessimistic Americans have been since the question was first asked in 1997.

Gallup says this is “one of the most lopsided margins in favor of the Israelis” they have ever recorded:

Gallup’s long-standing trend question on the Middle East, first measured in 1988, asks Americans whether their sympathies in the conflict lie more with the Israelis or the Palestinians. As has typically been the case, Americans are much more likely to sympathize with the Israelis (59%) than with the Palestinians (15%), with the remaining 26% not taking either side or not having an opinion. The current figures represent one of the most lopsided margins in favor of the Israelis ever recorded by Gallup. The only other times sympathy has been this high were during the first Persian Gulf War in February 1991 (when Iraq was launching Scud missiles into Israeli territory) and shortly before the start of the second war with Iraq, in February 2003 (58%).

And the people most likely to support the Palestinian cause are the least informed:

Gallup also finds that Americans who say they follow news about world affairs “very closely” are more likely to sympathize with the Israelis (66%) than Americans who follow foreign news only somewhat closely (59%) or who do not follow it closely (52%).