Palestinian poll: Gaza war significantly boosts Hamas' popularity

A vast majority of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip consider Hamas to be the winner of the summer’s conflict, with the group receiving a significant boost in popularity, according to a new poll.

The findings, published Tuesday by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research (PSR), show that 4 in 5 Palestinians surveyed believe Hamas won the Gaza war, while only 3% believe Israel came out the winner. A similar majority see Israel as responsible for the outbreak of hostilities.

Around two-thirds believe the ceasefire agreement satisfies Palestinian interests, while 94% were satisfied with Hamas’ military performance in confronting Israeli forces. In an evaluation of the performance of various Palestinian actors, the PA and Abbas received 36% and 39% positive ratings respectively, while Khaled Meshaal and Hamas received 78% and 88% respectively.

PSR described the results as showing a predictable post-war “spike in the popularity of Hamas and its leaders”, as well as “major decline in the popularity of Fatah and president Abbas”. The poll was conducted between 26-30 August, with a sample of 1,270 adults in 127 randomly selected locations.

The respected pollsters note that “the size of the change in favour of Hamas is unprecedented since 2006” and that “if presidential elections were to take place today, Ismail Haniyeh would easily win over Abbas and Hamas would win the largest percentage of the popular vote in parliamentary elections”. There is also strong support for “Hamas’ approach of armed confrontation with Israel as the most effective means of ending Israeli occupation”.