Poll: Popularity of Abbas government slipping among Palestinians

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A poll shows that the popularity of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' government is slipping and that he would have trouble winning an election. The survey was conducted by an independent think tank among 1,200 Palestinians and was published Wednesday. It also indicated that jailed former terrorist leader Marwan Barghouti is the most popular Palestinian politician and would beat any challenger, including Abbas, in a presidential race. The poll indicates that Abbas would lose narrowly against the Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh. The survey also shows that the approval rating of the Abbas government has dropped from 31 to 20 percent since January. The poll has an error margin of 3 percentage points.