New poll signals popular support for principled War on Terror in Mideast, as well as elsewhere

Potential problems for Bush with core Christian conservative constituency

At a press conference held at the National Press Club today, the Center for Security Policy released a new national poll surveying public opinion about a number of issues relevant to President Bush’s original and current approaches to promoting Middle East peace. On question after question, majorities signaled support for the principles embraced by Mr. Bush in his “vision for peace” unveiled on 24 June 2002 — and little enthusiasm for the quite different strategy that underpins the present initiative known as the “road map.”

Remarks about the new poll were made by the Center’s President, Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., by Frank Luntz, President of Luntz Research Companies, which conducted it, and by former presidential candidate and influential Christian evangelist, Gary Bauer, who now serves as President of American Values. The top line of the poll and Mr. Luntz’s briefing materials concerning it can be viewed at www.CenterforSecurityPolicy.org.

Among the highlights of the poll were the following findings:

Roughly half of Americans (49.2%) believe that the Palestinian leadership still wants to destroy Israel, compared to only 28.1% that believe it wishes to make peace.
61% do not think Mahmoud Abbas represents new Palestinian leadership “untainted by terror,” given his long and faithful association with Yasser Arafat. Only 21.2 think he qualifies as a “new leader.”
72.7% agree (46.1% “strongly” and 26.7% “somewhat”) with the precondition President Bush established last June before the U.S. would “support the establishment of a Palestinian state” — namely “its leaders [must] engage in a sustained fight against terrorists and dismantle their infrastructure.” Only 18% disagree.
In a split sample, 66.9% believe that the Palestinians could stop the terrorism against Israel and Israelis if they really wanted to; only 25.3% disagree. 67.4% believe that Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other Arab countries could do so if they really wanted to versus 23% who disagree.
62.5% believe Israel should not give up land if the terrorism against it continues. 20.4% disagree.
73% believe it is “fair” for Israel to insist that Palestinian incitement against it must stop before there can be any hope for a true peace. Only 16% think such insistence to be “unfair.”
79.8% of Americans agree (57.8% strongly, 22.1% somewhat) that force “can and should be used against terrorists and their safe havens involved in operations intended to kill Americans. 14.75 disagree.
69.2% of Americans believe Israel has a similar right to use preemptive force against terrorists and their safe havens. 18.1% disagree.

These findings suggest broad support for principles enunciated by President Bush on 24 June 2002 but that are absent from the “roadmap.” The American people want genuinely new Palestinian leadership (not a flim-flam), a real end to terror and its infrastructure (not, at best, a cease-fire) and a true cessation of incitement (not its unbroken continuation). Among self-identified Christian conservatives — a core part of President Bush’s political base, the above majorities were even more dramatic.

Top line of the poll

Briefing materials