As the United States and allies from the West and the Muslim world pursue their military campaign against Islamic State militants, a survey of public opinion in six Arab countries, and among the Palestinians, shows wide variation from country to country in support of the operation. Support was highest among the Lebanese, and lowest among Saudis, Egyptians, and Palestinians.

When asked for an overall appraisal of ISIS, 85 percent of Arab respondents in general had negative or somewhat negative views of the militant group. Opposition was lower among Palestinians, however, with 72 percent providing a negative or somewhat negative appraisal. Four percent of Palestinians had positive views of ISIS and another 20 percent had somewhat positive views.

According to the poll, which was conducted by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in Doha, Qatar, only 50 percent of Saudis and 52 percent of Egyptians and Palestinians voiced support for the military campaign against ISIS. 48 percent of Egyptians and 45 percent of Palestinians, Saudis and Tunisians opposed an operation. The survey also found that 59 percent of Arab respondents as a whole expressed support in varying degrees for the military campaign against ISIS while 37 percent were either opposed or strongly opposed.

The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies is headed by Azmi Bishara, a former member of Knesset who fled Israel amid allegations that he had passed the Lebanese militia Hezbollah information.

The poll was based on a sample of 600 respondents in Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Iraq. Polling was also conducted of a sample of 600 Palestinians and a sample of 900 Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. The results of each group’s sample were equally weighted.

When asked whether they were in favor of Arab participation in the coalition fighting ISIS, Palestinians were least supportive, with 50 percent of respondents saying that they oppose the effort to “degrade and ultimately destroy” ISIS. The second strongest opposition to Arab involvement was in Egypt, at 40 percent. Seventy-five percent of Lebanese expressed support, the highest in any Arab country polled. Seventy percent of respondents in Saudi Arabia, which is a member of the coalition of countries fighting ISIS, also supported to move.

In its measure of opinion in the Arab world in general, the pollsters asked which two countries stood to gain from the drive against ISIS. Thirty-one percent named the United States as one of the two, and 27 percent named Israel. Twenty-eight percent named Israel as the greatest threat to regional security, while 21 percent said it was the United States. Iran was next at 17 percent with armed Islamic groups following at 13 percent.

73 percent of Arab respondents had negative or somewhat negative views of U.S. policy in the region. When asked what the United States could do that would improve the respondent’s view of the United States, the most common response involved ending American military and financial support for Israel, which was mentioned by 36 percent of those polled.