| Poll: Most Americans Against Withdrawals | | |
The American people apparently understand what the Israeli public doesn't. An interactive Harris poll showed that a majority of Americans are opposed to further Israeli withdrawals. The poll also showed that only 40% of Americans supported Israel's retreat from Gaza.
The recent removal by the Israeli government of all Israeli settlers from Gaza, and of a much smaller number from the West Bank, has done little to reduce American pessimism about the likelihood of a lasting peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Furthermore, President Bush now receives a 70 percent negative rating on "working for a reasonable solution" to the problem, and large majorities continue to give both Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (79%) and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (65%) negative ratings.
These are some of the results of a Harris Poll of 2,242 U.S. adults surveyed online by Harris Interactive® between September 6 and 12, 2005.
The major findings include:
- A 41 to 24 percent plurality of all adults believes that removing Jewish settlers from Gaza and part of the West Bank was the right thing to do, with fully 36 percent not sure.
- A more modest 36 to 24 percent plurality thinks that this departure of Jewish settlers increases the chances of long-term peace, but fully 40 percent are unsure.
- An equally modest 36 to 28 percent plurality (with fully 35 percent not sure) does not believe that Israel should give up more land in the West Bank in exchange for peace.
In March this year, a Harris Poll of U.S. adults reported very negative job ratings for President Mahmoud Abbas, President Bush and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, on working "for a reasonable solution to the future relations between Israel and the Palestinians." Two out of three of these leaders now receive even worse ratings:
- Fully 70 percent of all adults give President Bush negative ratings, up from 63 percent in March.
- An even larger 79 percent majority gives President Abbas negative marks, an increase of 11 percentage points since March.
- While Prime Minister Sharon’s ratings are still overwhelmingly negative (65%), his numbers have not changed significantly (64% in March) and are somewhat better than President Bush’s 70 percent negative rating and much better than President Abbas’ 79 percent negative score.
- Following the removal of Israeli settlers from Gaza, there has been a slight increase from 45 to 49 percent in the plurality who believes that Israelis are willing to compromise to achieve peace.
Notwithstanding the successful Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and given the very negative ratings for the leaders in the Middle East, the attitude of most Americans seems to be "a plague on all of you" and a lot of pessimism that a lasting peace can be achieved.
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