WASHINGTON — Most Americans want an evenhanded U.S. policy toward Israel and the Palestinians, and they support President Bush's putting more pressure on both sides to help resolve the Middle East conflict, a new poll shows.
A majority — 54 percent — also sees Bush as not exerting strong leadership on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, despite the generally high marks he gets overall for the Iraq war and foreign policy in general, according to a poll released Friday by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland.
As Bush heads to a three-way summit with Israeli and Palestinian leaders next week, 65 percent of those polled said both sides are at fault "about equally" for the failure to reach an accord, while 24 percent blame the Palestinians more and 6 percent the Israelis.
On U.S. policy, 73 percent said Bush "should not take either side" in the conflict, while 57 percent believe the United States generally does take Israel's side. And 49 percent support putting more pressure on Israel to make compromises, while 38 percent oppose that.
The poll also showed that most Americans were not well informed about the "road map" to peace proposed by the United States, Europe, Russia and the United Nations. When key elements were described, 74 percent backed the plan.
The survey was taken May 14-18 by Knowledge Networks. The poll of 1,256 people has a margin of error of three to four percentage points.
The evenhanded approach supported by most respondents did not surprise Steven Kull, the program director at the University of Maryland.
"When it comes to sympathy, there is a proclivity in favor of Israel, but asked about the character of the problem, most see both sides to blame, stuck in this conflict," Kull said.
Strong majorities also expect Bush to exert pressure on both sides, and 56 percent expect that he will lean on Israel even if supporters of Israel try to discourage that.
Before his first trip to the Middle East, Bush was not seen as showing strong leadership on the Arab-Israeli issue, and the public was divided on how involved he should become.
"A majority perceives him as not getting a grip on this issue yet or being able to use some leverage," Kull said. "But many seem to see this as a moment of opportunity."
A majority — 58 percent — believes Bush is in a stronger position to resolve the conflict because of the Iraq war, and 55 percent said a Middle East accord would greatly lower the risk of terrorist attacks against the United States.
But there are notes of pessimism in the poll. Those surveyed were almost evenly divided over whether Bush should take a stronger role in trying to resolve the conflict, although support for a bigger role rose among those who described themselves as politically active or attentive.
And 47 percent said that even if Bush used "all available options to apply pressure," he would not get Israel to stop building new settlements in the West Bank or Gaza.
A majority — 57 percent — also predicted that even if Bush put similar pressure on the Palestinian leadership, he could not force those leaders to halt terrorist attacks.