A recent poll conducted in Gaza has revealed a sharp drop in support for Hamas, but the ruling Islamist movement is preventing the survey's publication, the state-run Egyptian daily Al-Ahram reported Wednesday.

A random survey of about 1,000 Gazans revealed a sharp decrease in support for the activities of Hamas' security services and indicated dissatisfaction with the performance of the Hamas government's offices and the Palestinian factions.

Asked who they would vote for had elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council been held today, 33.4% of the respondents said they would vote for Hamas, while 32% said they would vote for Fatah; 20.7% said they do not know who they would vote for.

As for Hamas' security forces in Gaza, 32.6% of the respondents described their performance as poor, 29.3% defined the forces' performance as mediocre, and the same number of people said they were pleased with the work of Hamas' security forces.

Asked about Hamas' government offices, 34.5% described their performance level as poor, 30.5% said it was mediocre, while less than a quarter of respondents expressed satisfaction with the government offices' performance level.

Addressing the long-running dispute between Hamas and Fatah, 19.3% of those polled said Hamas was to blame for the fact that the sides have yet to reconcile, 16.1% blamed Fatah, while 31.7% of respondents said an "American-Israeli veto" was the reason behind the prolonged dispute.

The poll was conducted by the Al-Mustaqbal Research Center.