The Daily Beast on Wednesday published details of a new poll by The Israel Project – which the organization formally published later that morning – finding that “over twice as many Americans agree with Israel’s claim that they are not primarily to blame for the failure of the Middle East peace process than those who agree with the Palestinian claim that moving toward a unity government with Hamas is a step toward peace,” a result that the outlet noted came as “the debate over who is primarily to blame for the breakdown of talks has become heated.”

The results came from among other things a series of questions in which 1,595 likely voters were asked to respond to a range of “narrative” questions to evaluate how the public debate over the Palestinian unity agreement was progressing. For each question, they were asked to evaluate the Israeli position and the Palestinian position.

The Washington Post‘s Jennifer Rubin drew a series of conclusions from the numbers.

First, the problem is not merely the PA leadership but a Palestinian population marinating in a stew of anti-Semitic vitriol and reverence for terrorists. When that changes, perhaps peace will be attainable. Second, the administration’s blame-Israel view is a loser with the American people, even among Democrats. Third, Republicans are overwhelmingly supportive of the Jewish state.

JNS picked out different data points from the poll, noting that two-thirds of Americans agree that Israel cannot be expected to negotiate with a Palestinian unity government that includes members of Hamas. It also noted that “51 percent of respondents said the U.S. should be a supporter or strong supporter of Israel, while only nine percent said America should be a supporter or strong supporter of the Palestinians.” The nine percent figure is identical to the percent of Americans who believed that aliens were hiding behind the 1997 Hale-Bopp comet.

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