Politico’s Misleading Poll on Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

A Dec. 28-29 national tracking poll of American public opinion by Politico asked misleading questions about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

The survey by Morning Consult and Politico asked multiple more than 60 questions, the vast majority of which had nothing to do with the Middle East, Israel or terrorism. However, two poll questions sought to ascertain the sentiment of respondents on UNSC Res. 2334, which deemed Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal. The resolution was passed under Chapter 6 of the U.N. Charter and is thus considered advisory; it does not create any binding obligations and its passage does not make settlements “illegal (“Res. 2334: Game Changer or Not?” CAMERA, Dec. 24, 2016).” \

Poll question 13 asked, “How much have you seen, read or heard about a recent United Nation’s resolution regarding Israel settlements in certain territories, including the Palestinian territory and West Jerusalem?”

In fact, there are no Israeli “settlements”—Jewish communities—in “West Jerusalem.” West Jerusalem has been under Israeli sovereignty since the Jewish state was proclaimed in 1948. The poll evidently meant “East Jerusalem” which Israel captured in the 1967 war.

Similarly, question 14 asked respondents what they thought about “Israel’s creation of settlements for Jewish people in territories such as West Bank and Gaza….”

But Israel has no settlements in the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group whose charter calls for a Jewish genocide. In fact, in the absence of negotiations with the Palestinian Authority (PA), Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

Commendably, Politico issued a correction on January 5 that noted the two errors above. However, the conclusions of the poll had already been broadcast. For example, The Times of Israel ran a January 4 story citing the poll’s conclusions, entitled “More Americans support UN resolution on Israel than oppose it.” That article highlighted that “while 35% or respondents back the anti-settlements Security Council resolution and 26% reject it, a plurality of 36% holds no opinion.” But given the inaccurate wording of the poll’s questions, it’s fair to question its results.

Moreover, it’s worth asking how such factually flawed questions managed to be included in a survey conducted by a leading, major publication in the first place.