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American Public Opinion Polls: Survey of Jewish Americans and Arab Americans

THINKING ABOUT MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS ISSUES:

In the Geneva Accords, Palestinian refugees would be entitled to compensation for their refugee status and loss of property, as well as a guaranteed right to settle in the new Palestinian state or third countries. In addition, the Geneva Accords would allow Israel to make a sovereign decision about how many refugees, if any, would be allowed to live inside its borders. Do you support or oppose such a formula for addressing the refugee issue? (January 2004)

  Jewish Americans
Support 60.3
Oppose 25.9
Not sure 13.7

Overall, do you strongly support, somewhat support, or not support the Geneva Accords, or are you not familiar enough with the initiative to make a judgment? (January 2004)

  Jewish Americans % Arab Americans %
Strongly support/Somewhat support 43.2 42.2
Did not support 8.9 4.9
Not familiar enough to make a judgement 44.4 50.5

The Geneva Accords are an unofficial agreement that calls for: an end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state along side the State of Israel; a joint commitment to security and fighting terrorism; the evacuation of most Israeli settlements; the establishment of a border roughly along the 1967 Green Line; providing a resolution for Palestinian refugees consistent with Israel retaining its sovereignty over its immigration policy; split sovereignty over Jerusalem holy sites; and establishing Jerusalem as the shared capital of both states. Having heard this description, are you now more or less likely to support the Geneva Accords? (January 2004)

  Jewish Americans % Arab Americans %
More likely to support 50.2% 73.5%
Less likely to support 22.4 7.9
No difference 16.7 12.6
Not sure 10.7 6

Do you support or oppose requiring Israelis and Palestinians to cooperate on security matters and to commit themselves to fighting terrorism and violence in the context of an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty? (January 2004)

  Jewish Americans
Support 86.4
Oppose 8.6
Not sure 5

Do you support or not support the use of outside, international monitors to determine if the terms of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement are kept by both sides? (January 2004)

  Jewish Americans
Support 69.7%
Not Support 24.6%
Not sure 5.6%

Should the Israelis and Palestinians reach a peace agreement, would you support or not support the use of U.S. peacekeeping forces to ensure that the terms of the agreement are met? (January 2004)

  Jewish Americans Arab Americans
Support 61.8 68.4
Oppose 30.1 26.7
Not Sure 8.1 4.9

Do you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree that Palestinians have a right to live in a secure and independent state of their own?

  Jewish Americans % (July 2003) Jewish Americans % (October 2002) Arab Americans % (July 2003) Arab Americans % (October 2002)
Strongly agree 49.0 -- 84.8 --
Somewhat agree 33.0 -- 7.9 --
Strongly/somewhat agree -- 85.5 -- 95.6
Somewhat disagree 5.9 -- .5 --
Strongly disagree 9.3 -- 2.2 --
Strongly/somewhat disagree -- 8.4 -- 2.0
Not Sure 2.9 6.1 4.7 2.4

Do you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree that Israelis have a right to live in a secure and independent state of their own?

  Jewish Americans % (July 2003) Jewish Americans % (October 2002) Arab Americans % (July 2003) Arab Americans (October 2002)
Strongly agree 95.3 -- 79.1 --
Somewhat agree 4.2 -- 16.1 --
Strongly/somewhat agree -- 96.6 -- 95.4
Somewhat disagree .2 -- .4 --
Strongly disagree .2 -- 1.4 --
Strongly/somewhat disagree -- 1.0 -- 3.7
Not sure .1 2.4 3.0 0.9

Do you support or oppose the recognition of the right of the Jewish people to statehood and the recognition of the right of the Palestinian people to statehood? (January 12-15, 2004)

Support 85.4%
Oppose 7.7%
Not sure 6.9%

Do you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose the road map to peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians as laid out by the Bush Administration? (July 2003)

  Jewish Americans % Arab Americans %
Strongly support 23.0 45.7
Somewhat support 48.0 28.1
Somewhat oppose 7.1 5.2
Strongly oppose 9.3 5.8
Not sure 12.6 15.3

What needs to be done first in order to ensure the success of the peace plan—A: The Israelis need to start dismantling the settlements and outposts in the West Bank and Gaza and freeze settlement expansion, B: the Palestinians need to declare a ceasefire and stop the suicide bombings, or both Israel and the Palestinians need to take the above steps at the same time? (July 2003)

  Jewish Americans % Arab Americans %
Dislantle settlements/freeze expansion 2.8 18.4
Ceasefire/stop bombings 37.4 4.9
Both 56.7 73.2
Neither - nothing will work 1.8 1.4
Not sure 1.3 2.1

Do you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose a freeze on all Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank and Gaza? (July 2003)

  Jewish Americans % (January 2004) Jewish Americans % (July 2003) Arab-Americans % (July 2003)
Strongly support -- 45.7 70.9
Somewhat support -- 24.9 9.3
Support 62.7 -- --
Somewhat oppose -- 8.5 4.0
Strongly oppose -- 12.3 6.0
Oppose 27.5 -- --
Not sure 9.8 8.6 9.7

Do you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose Israel ending its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza? (July 2003)

  Jewish Americans % Arab Americans %
Strongly support 26.8 73.2
Somewhat support 31.7 10.4
Somewhat oppose 12.7 2.0
Strongly oppose 16.4 5.5
Not sure 12.3 9.0

Would you support or not support a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians that included the establishment of an independent, secure Palestinian state alongside an independent, secure Israeli state, the evacuation of most settlements from the West Bank and Gaza, the establishment of a border roughly along the June 4, 1967 border, a Palestinian right of return only to inside a new Palestinian state, and establishing Jerusalem as the shared capital of both countries?

  Jewish Americans (January 2004) Jewish Americans % (July 2003) Jewish Americans % (October 2002) Arab Americans % (July 2003) Arab Americans (October 2002)
Support 46.9 59.2 51.7 85.2 78.9
Not support 39.4 31.0 30.3 6.1 10.9
Not Sure 13.7 9.9 18.0 8.7 10.2

If the U.S. is NOT significantly involved in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, do you agree or disagree that it will be possible for Israelis and Palestinians to reach a peace agreement and implement it on their own? (January 2004)

  Jewish Americans %
Agree 31.6
Disagree 63
Not sure 5.3

Should the Israelis and Palestinians reach a peace agreement, would you support or not support the use of U.S. funds to ensure that the terms of the agreement are met? (January 2004)

  Jewish Americans % Arab Americans %
Support 83.9 76.4
Not support 11.7 18.1
Not sure 4.3 5.6

THE U.S. AND THE MIDDLE EAST:

Would you be more likely or less likely to support a political candidate who says that the U.S. must be actively engaged in trying to bring peace between Israelis and Palestinians? (January 2004)

  Jewish Americans Arab Americans
More likely to support 71.6 72.9
Less likely to support 8.5 10.6
Not sure 3.1 1.9

Do you think the U.S. needs to be evenhanded in trying to broker an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? (January 2004)

  Jewish Americans Arab Americans
Yes, the U.S. needs to be evenhanded 67.8 85.1
No, the U.S. does not need to be evenhanded 23.9 8.4
Not sure 8.4 6.4

How confident are you in the Bush Administration’s commitment to achieve a two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? (July 2003)

  Jewish Americans Arab Americans
Very confident 9.8 12.2
Somewhat confident 45.8 37.6
Not confident 41.3 44.9
Not sure 3.1 5.3

Generally speaking, how would you rate President George W. Bush’s handling of the Arab/Israeli conflict in the Middle East?

  Jewish Americans (January 2004) Jewish Americans (July 2003) Jewish-Americans (October 2002) Arab Americans (January 2004) Arab Americans (July 2003) Arab Americans (October 2002)
Excellent 4.2 5.0 5.5 8.9 12.1 7.8
Good 17.7 24.0 23.0 13.5 26.8 18.6
Fair 37.9 44.8 37.7 20.7 26.9 22.3
Poor 38.1 24.1 31.3 54.6 29.5 46.4
Not sure 2.2 2.1 2.5 2.3 4.6 4.8

Sources: Americans for Peace Now, Arab American Institute