Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Pew Research : Americans not aware of the Palestinians counerproductive move at the UN

Bibi needs to invest in some serious Hasbara tour across America, to explain the US public, how counterproductive a UN vote of a Unilateral declaration of Statehood, is for peace.

(Pewresearch).Americans express mixed opinions about a possible independent Palestinian state, an issue that has so far drawn little attention from the press or the public. More favor (42%) than oppose (26%) the United States recognizing Palestine as an independent nation, while nearly a third (32%) express no opinion.

Yet the public’s sympathies in the Middle East dispute remain more with Israel than the Palestinians: 40% say they sympathize more with Israel, while just 10% sympathize more with the Palestinians; 21% volunteer that they sympathize with neither side, while 25% express no opinion.

More than half of Democrats (54%) say the U.S. should recognize Palestine as an independent nation while just 14% oppose this step. Among independents, more favor (45%) than oppose (28%) the U.S. recognizing an independent Palestinian state. But just 27% of Republicans favor U.S. recognition for Palestine, while 38% are opposed.

Far more Republicans sympathize with Israel (62%) than with the Palestinians (4%) or sympathize with neither side (14%) and 18% have no opinion.

By contrast, 27% of Democrats say they sympathize with Israel while nearly as many (24%) volunteer that they sympathize with neither side; 15% of Democrats sympathize with the Palestinians. Nearly three-in-ten Democrats (29%) offer no opinion. Among independents, 41% sympathize with Israel, 22% with neither Israel nor the Palestinians, and 10% the Palestinians; 24% express no opinion.

37% say Obama is striking the right balance in his handling of the situation in the Middle East ; 20% say he favors the Palestinians too much and just 5% say he favors Israel too much.