A recent poll by Pew Research finds that Americans fault Hamas for the current violence in the Middle East by a margin of more than 2 to 1.

The Washington Free Beacon reported today on the results of that poll:

More than twice as many Americans blame Hamas for the current conflict than blame Israel …

Forty percent of Americans blame Hamas for the violence in the region, compared to just 19 percent that blame Israel.

In addition, 35 percent of those polled believe that Israel’s response to Hamas’ escalation has been “about right,” and another 13 percent felt that Israel had not gone far enough. Just 25 percent of Americans thought that Israel had gone too far.

These findings comport with the results of a recent Gallup poll that found that 70 percent of Americans believed that Hamas’ actions were unjustified. The Gallup poll showed a slight majority that found Israel actions justified. The less marked support for Israel in the Gallup poll could be attributed to the wording of the question that identified the kidnapping and killing of three students as the inciting cause of the current violence. In fact, over 200 rockets had been fired from Gaza into Israel prior to the kidnappings – five times the number that had been launched in all of 2013.

Additionally, as Vox emphasizes, the Gallup poll shows that Americans with a higher level of education and who are more informed about the Middle East are much more likely to support Israel.

[Photo: Chris Brown / Flickr ]