More than two-thirds of American registered voters oppose President Joe Biden’s plan to restore the Palestinian Authority to power in Gaza, according to a new Harvard-Harris poll. The online poll was conducted Feb. 21-22 among 2,022 registered voters.
The poll reveals that only 28% say that the Palestinian Authority, which is notoriously corrupt and subsidizes terrorism, should run Gaza if Hamas is removed. The top choice, at 39%, was for Gaza to be run by Arab nations; 34% said Israel should run it.
Asked whether Hamas should be allowed to run Gaza or be removed, 78% said it should be removed, and 22% said it should stay. A slightly smaller 18% of registered voters said they supported Hamas in the war, while 82% backed Israel in the ongoing conflict.
On calls for a ceasefire, only 33% of American registered voters said they backed an unconditional ceasefire to end the war, while 67% said that a ceasefire should only take effect after Hamas released all of its hostages and was removed from power in Gaza.
Nearly two thirds — 63% — said that Israel should “continue its ground invasion into Southern Gaza to root out the final elements of Hamas.” The Biden administration has said it would not support such an operation due to the presence of Palestinian civilians. (Israel has developed a plan, currently under consideration by its war cabinet, for evacuating civilians before moving forward.)
When it comes to attacks by Iranian terror groups, 54% said that Biden’s approach had been too weak, versus 44% who said he had been “acting forcefully enough.” Moreover, 67% said the U.S. should strike terrorist groups, rather than acting simply in self-defense. A staggering 61% said that his policy on Iran had been unsuccessful, versus 39% who said it his policy been successful.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
