WASHINGTON - Seventy-nine percent of Americans think the US must work hard to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, a poll published on Thursday said.
However, many Israelis will be disappointed to learn that most Americans are not interested in a military operation on Persian soil.
| War in South |
|
| Poll: US supports Israel in Gaza op / Yitzhak Benhorin |
|
Ipsos poll reveals 44% of Americans blame Hamas for conflict while only 14% blame Israel |
| Full Story |
|
|
|
According to a poll commissioned by the Israel Project and conducted by Quinlan Rosner Research, 47% of Americans would prefer increased diplomatic pressure on Iran,
while 39% support harsher economic sanctions.
Of the respondents, 43% say direct negotiations should be opened with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's
regime.
When it comes to American public opinion on Israel,
the Foreign Ministry can breathe easy. This is the second poll published in the past 24-hours that shows residents of the world's largest superpower have not changed their opinion on Israel despite Operation Cast Lead.
In spite of the ongoing military operation,
and the difficult images of casualties in the Strip, 56% of Americans blame the Palestinians for the current conflict in Gaza, as opposed to 18% who point the finger at Israel.
Sixty-six percent of the respondents blame the humanitarian crisis in the Strip on Hamas.
Nearly half of the respondents said they have seen or heard a lot about the military conflict in the Middle East.
The general American opinion on the conflict seems to have remained unchanged by the recent offensive, as Americans sided with Israel over the Palestinians by a 57%-8% margin, compared to a 57%-6% margin in a poll conducted in November.
Stanley Greenberg, of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research said, “Americans accept Israel’s justification for acting in Gaza because they accept Israel’s stated obligation to defend the safety of its citizens and the understanding that no country would allow rockets to fall on its citizens without taking action.”
The poll also showed that 73% of registered voters think the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is about ideology and religion, while only 19% think the conflict is really about the struggle over land.
It seems that Israeli PR efforts in the US have been fruitful, as close to two-thirds of Americans said they know that Israel withdrew all its troops and settlers from Gaza three years ago and that Palestinian terrorists have been regularly shooting rockets into Israel for years.
Forty-six percent of Americans identified Iran as the principal supporter of the military activities of Hamas
in Gaza, and 79% said they think President-elect Barack Obama's administration will have to work hard to bring peace to the Middle East.
RSS
