Poll: Half of Americans blame activists

Rasmussen Reports survey shows more of US public sides with Israel.

By HERB KEINON
While there is a widespread perception in Israel that the entire world has ganged up against it because of the raid last week on the Mavi Marmara, in which nine people were killed after attacking IDF commandos, a US poll released Tuesday showed that 49 percent of US voters believe those on the ship were to blame for the deaths.
According to a Rasmussen Reports survey released Monday and circulated Tuesday to reporters by the Prime Minister’s Office, 49% of respondents said that “pro-Palestinian activists” were “primarily to blame for the deadly outcome of the raid on the aidcarrying ships.” Only 19% blamed Israel, and another 32% said they were not sure.
Regarding whether Israel should allow an international investigation of the incident, however, 51% of the respondents answered in the affirmative, with 25% saying “no,” and the rest unsure.
Asked whether the US was “too supportive or not supportive enough of Israel,” 33% said the US was not supportive enough, 32% said “about right,” and 24% said Washington was “too supportive.” Nearly half of the respondents, some 49%, said that most countries of the world were “too critical” of Israel, with 21% saying the world was not critical enough, and another 30% replying “neither” or “unsure.”
There was a wide discrepancy here, however, between Democrats and Republicans, with 65% of the Republicans believing the world was too critical of Israel – a view shared by only 37% of Democrats.
The telephone survey of 1,000 likely US voters was conducted on June 3-4, with a +/- 3 percentage-point margin of sampling error.