Survey shows Hamas leader Haniyeh leads over Fatah leader Abbas

A survey released by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research on Monday revealed that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh enjoys growing popularity in the Palestinian street. The poll shows that Haniyeh received 47% of the popularity vote compared to 46% for Fatah leader and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. This contrasts previous polls, in which Abbas retained the lead, with the last poll conducted in December 2007 giving him 56% of the votes. The results, which included a sample of 1,270 Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza, also showed that jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti is more popular than Haniyeh and received 57% support compared to 38% for Haniyeh.

The survey was conducted after Israel finished its army operations in Gaza earlier this month. The survey revealed that Hamas's breaching of the Egypt border with Gaza contributed to a strengthening of Haniyeh's popularity. The findings also showed that if new elections were to take place, Fatah would receive 42% and Hamas 35%.

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