Many American voters who support some sort of peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority apparently do so because they don’t actually understand the nature of the conflict in the Middle East.
That’s one conclusion that could reasonably be reached from an analysis of online polling data from Gideon300 and RMG Research.
The organizations polled 1,000 registered voters earlier in March, asking four simple questions.
First, respondents were asked, “Do you favor or oppose the U.S. encouraging Israel to make a peace deal with the Palestinian Authority?”
A majority of those polled, 55 percent, either somewhat or strongly favored such encouragement, compared to only 23 percent who somewhat or strongly opposed it. Another 22 percent said that they were unsure.
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Second, the pollsters asked, “Would you describe the Palestinian Authority as more extreme, more moderate, or essentially the same as Hamas?”
Nearly a third of respondents, 31 percent, admitted to their ignorance here, saying they weren’t sure of the relative extremity of the two groups. A slightly larger group of 35 percent said the PA was more