Poll: Nearly 60 Percent Of Americans Believe Israel Justified In Gaza Strikes

[DonViejo]

Source: TPM

Poll: Nearly 60 Percent Of Americans Believe Israel Justified In Gaza Strikes

TOM KLUDT 11:08 AM EST, MONDAY NOVEMBER 19, 2012

Americans are predominantly supportive of the Israeli cause in the nearly week-long conflict that's engulfed the Gaza Strip, according to a poll from CNN and ORC International released on Monday.

Fifty-seven percent of Americans believe that Israel has been justified in its ongoing military strikes in Gaza, while only one in four believe the attacks have been unjustified. Moreover, "nearly six in ten say their sympathies are with the Israelis," compared with a mere 13 percent who back the Palestinians in the conflict. Eleven percent said they support neither side.

But despite the robust support for Israel, CNN notes that the poll still found division in attitudes along ideological, generational and gender-based lines:

"Although most Americans think the Israeli actions are justified, there are key segments of the public who don't necessarily feel that way," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Only four in ten Democrats think the Israeli actions in Gaza are justified, compared to 74% of Republicans and 59% of independents. Support for Israel's military action is 13 points higher among men than among women, and 15 points higher among older Americans than among younger Americans."

-30-




Read more: http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/poll-nearly-60-percent-of-americans-believe-israel

[Xipe Totec]

1. Translation: 60% of Americans watch Fox News or other right wing propaganda sources. nt

[subsuelo]

6. Notice the percentage goes way up for Republicans, way down for Dems n/t

[Xipe Totec]

9. That's because Democrats are Pro-Life

and frown on people being carpet bombed into oblivion for political reasons.

[subsuelo]

10. *most* Democrats, I think you mean. n/t

[Xipe Totec]

12. Yes, that's exactly what I meant. Thanks! nt

[plethoro]

18. Great point.............nft

dddddddd

[dipsydoodle]

2. And that's important why. ?

[Dont call me Shirley]

3. It's not just Faux Noise, it's all the MSM. They all report the warmongers' lies.

The palestinians are a subjugated people, just like an abused wife.

[kenichol]

4. I'm glad to be with the 40% nt

[carolbrenner]

5. 60% of Americans Probably Can't Locate Gaza On A Map

Let alone comment on ongoing developments there.

[subsuelo]

8. Puts things in perspective, doesn't it n/t

[Poll_Blind]

7. "Only four in ten Democrats think the Israeli actions in Gaza are justified..." nt

PB

[zellie]

11. Exactly

You send endless bombs trying to kill as many innocent people, most normal people tend to reject that.

[Fumesucker]

19. I guess that means most Democrats aren't normal

Only 40% of Democrats supported Israel's actions.

[Lars77]

13. Wow, i expected that number to be way larger.

The main stream narrative is that America somehow just must support whatever Israel does.

No wonder Republicans are bigger. They like military show of force, they don't like arabs, and the evangelicals believe jesus will do a comeback in israel if all the jews go there. Jesus will then turn them into christian/kill them, making him a new hitler.

hmm.

[broiles]

14. Not me, I think Israel's actions are criminal.

From the blockade to the imprisonment of Palestinians within the boundaries of Gaza. To the settlers taking over Palestinian land. The U.S. should be ashamed of providing the support Israel needs to conduct these crimes.

[Hulk]

15. Sorry...but I'm really lost on this one!

I'm down here in Mexico on vacation, and I have NO IDEA who is responsible for the killing that is going on in the Middle East tonight. Who sent the first salvo of rockets?...Hamas?

You're going to love this.....the cable company now gives fox-nonsense as part of the basic package. That means I am now able to enjoy the clowns in the morning, the goof-balls during most of the day, the five idiots-minus-one at sometime during the day, and a real treat: vannity and bor spreading their lies and misinformation on delicate ears.

Hey folks...UNTIL WE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS media lopsided blitz, we are going to be fighting an uphill battle. Most of us expats down here don't believe their BS, but if that's ALL YOU GET...you have to wonder.

Who did fire the first set of salvos?? Who is responsible for this mess...again? I am going to guess Net+co. have been squeezing the life out of the Palestinians until the foolish Hamas have had enough and decide to toss some rockets over the fence in retaliation? Now, it's just tit-for-tat until they decide the Palestinians have been crushed into surrendering ...again. How sad.

Please let me know if I have my info wrong. I have no idea who started the mess. I can surely guess that Israel has retaliated 1000 times for every rocket fired, or every Israeli murdered. What a tragic mess. Can we just give the Israeli's Arizona and turn the land back over to the Palestinians? Then Jan Brewer can deal with that nightmare instead of the Hispanic paranoia.

[John2]

20. Well

I'm one Democrat who is probably in that 60 percent. I imagine most Jewish Democrats also agree. I don't think you can look at this in a general way. It is more complex than that. You have to seperate the Palestinians into two factions. They have two governments. If you notice, Israel is not attacking the more moderate Palestinians. It is the Government where Hamas is in power. Hamas's stated goal is to eliminate Israel and they don't agree with a two state solution. So this is where I disagree with most Democrats and take the side of the Israelis.

Any government that states to demolish your existence should be considered hostile. Any leader of a country would be negligent if they don't take Hamas's goals serious. What would you do if you was President of the United States and another Government stated they wanted to wipe you off the map? There is no other option but to destroy Hamas. It is either you or them.

[cpwm17]

22. What utter bullshit

The only map wiping going on is represented in this picture. Israel is, in reality, wiping the Palestinians off the map. Israel refuses to recognize the Palestinians right to exist, and they were there first.

Reality has a liberal bias, and the more liberal a person is, the more likely they are to side with the oppressed. That's the Palestinians in this case.

[Scootaloo]

25. Gaza and the West Bank are not separate entities

They are both Palestine. It happens that the Gaza Strip underwent a coup, and the relative weakness of the main PA government was unable to stifle it. Despite that, neither faction regards "its" territory as separated from the other.

[Scootaloo]

16. Well, duh. Forty years of blatant anti-Arab propaganda defines our current perspective

55% of Americans would probably advocate outright genocide, "turn it to glass"-style, without batting an eye... and the remaining 45% would argue about whether or not we ought to lump Turkey and central Asia in with that.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

17. CNN also noted that Romney and Obama were in a dead heat.

Excuse me, but I don't believe that America is cheering Israel on in this fight.

[David__77]

21. I refuse to believe that 60% really have an opinion.

That's the interesting thing. I certainly believe that US public opinion toward Israel is much "softer" than a few decades ago.

[leftynyc]

29. Try unskewing the poll

That worked so well for the republicans. Any poll that has one option at 60% would be considered a blowout in any election. No matter what you "believe" (y'know, like Dick Morris just "knew" mitt was going to win a landslide).

[David__77]

35. I didn't say that the poll isn't accurate.

And, indeed, if the US population were voting on it, then I believe that the poll would accurately be reflected in that. What I said is an entirely different matter.

[center rising]

23. Israel's actions are justified

Glad to be with the majority!!

[JoeyT]

24. 60% in support of a war? That sounds familiar.

60% of those polled also supported, if necessary, the use of military action to remove Saddam from power which closely mirrored recent polls taken by Time Magazine, CNN, Fox News, USA Today, CBS News, and other news organizations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_opinion_in_the_United_States_on_the_invasion_of_Iraq

Oh right. That's why it sounds familiar. About 50-60% will support any war, at least right at the start of it. Half of those will pretend like they never supported it in the first place once it becomes obvious it was a mistake. So what do we reckon the overlap is between the people that support this and the people that supported the war in Iraq that virtually everyone freely admits is a complete fuckup now?

[newspeak]

36. thank you joeyT

i was thinking the same thing. with our corporate media "catapulting the propaganda", how many americans fell for the lie about iraq?

and my favorite lie at the time "iraq has the capacity to hit the US, you know with all of those WMD's.

oh, some of these so called christians just look biblically and think israel should do what they do no matter how heinous because god is on their side and israel was theirs before the palestinians.

no matter if it was three thousand, five thousand years ago. of course, they don't say the same thing about the native americans.

[luv_mykatz]

26. + 1,000 for JoeyT's post.

Too bad that some people will support a war, any war, at least at the beginning, like JoeyT says.

Then, when it becomes a clear that the war is wrong (as wars usually are), the same people like to pretend that they were against it from the beginning.

I also agree with the person who questioned the accuracy of this 'poll' from the corporate-owned main$tream media. I think we all know, or should remember how they tried to gin up support for the last fiasco in the war theater. Same old tactic: repeat lies loud enough, and long enough, and people will believe it.

[BlueCaliDem]

27. This Democrat doesn't.

I can't stand Bibi and his neocon agenda. But that's because I can't stand neocons.

I hope the Israeli people vote that warmonger out of power next year. The last thing we need is another war!

[blkmusclmachine]

28. Fox News poll?

[Selatius]

30. Well, you know, this is the same country that believed Bush when he said Saddam had WMD.

A republic is only as good as the opinions of its citizens.

Without information and the ability to critically think, no republic will long endure. After the fall, it's just tyranny.

[Scootaloo]

31. And thank god we neutralized Grenada!

U-S-A! U-S-A!

Americans: Wildly supportive of wars they don't have to fight in against people they don't care about.

[newspeak]

38. yeah and which arsehole robber baron

who owned a newspaper bragged about starting the spanish-american war?

whip the sheeple up and they will hate what you want them to hate, and kill what you want them to kill-all for someone else's interest. and it has worked every time with sensationalized stories and down right lies, like the kuwait incubator bullshite.

[aandegoons]

32. I wonder how closely that mirrors support for the death penalty.

Or murdering a person for stealing.

[Franker65]

33. Most Americans are out of the touch with the situation

They will just side with the 'friendly nation' and forget about the arabs, they're the ones that seem to cause all the problems anyway.

[forest4qt]

34. 60% otherwise known as 1500 people in a phone poll n/t

[Fearless]

37. They are sheep.