Overwhelming majorities in the UK and other western European countries believe Palestinians should have their own state and want their governments to vote for recognition of Palestine at the United Nations at the end of the month, according to latest polls.

Among Britons questioned, 72% said the Palestinians had a right to statehood, against only 6% who disagreed. When it came to the British vote on recognition at the UN general assembly on 29 November, 58% were in favour of a yes vote, against 8% who said the UK should vote no. Similar widelarge majorities were found in polls in Germany, France and Spain. The online polls were commissioned by Avaaz, the pro-democracy advocacy group, and carried out by YouGov in Britain and Germany, Ifop in France and Metroscopia in Spain. They took place earlier this month, on a sample size of 1,635 adults in the UK, and more than 1,000 in the other countries.

Of the four countries polled, Spain is expected to support Palestinian recognition, France has said it will not rule it out, and UK and Germany have given no clear indication. Israel has been intensively lobbying EU states against recognition and has issued threats against the Palestinian leadership, including saying it will seek to overthrow the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, if the general assembly vote goes ahead.

The Palestinians are expected to win the vote, but Israel is anxious that major European powers do not support the resolution, in an effort to reduce the "moral authority" implied by a United Nations vote.