{"id":58915,"date":"2026-02-22T08:08:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T12:08:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/geopolitical-tensions-flare-as-gallup-ends-historic-polling-era-and-regional-conflicts-escalate\/58915\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T08:08:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T12:08:31","slug":"geopolitical-tensions-flare-as-gallup-ends-historic-polling-era-and-regional-conflicts-escalate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/geopolitical-tensions-flare-as-gallup-ends-historic-polling-era-and-regional-conflicts-escalate\/58915\/","title":{"rendered":"Geopolitical Tensions Flare as Gallup Ends Historic Polling Era and Regional Conflicts Escalate"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Gallup is retiring its 88-year-old presidential approval poll<\/strong>, ending the longest-running political report card in U.S. history due to extreme <strong>partisan polarization<\/strong> and a shift in corporate research priorities.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pakistan launched extensive airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan<\/strong>, targeting seven sites in Nangarhar and Paktika; the Afghan Red Crescent reports at least <strong>18 deaths<\/strong>, including women and children.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Israeli PM Netanyahu is seeking new regional alliances<\/strong> against &quot;radical axes&quot; (both Shiite and Sunni) as he prepares for a high-profile visit from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and coordinates with the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/thestockmarketwatch.com\/live\/trump-stock-market\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Trump\">Trump<\/a> administration<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>France has summoned US Ambassador Charles Kushner<\/strong> following his public comments on the death of a far-right activist, marking a sharp escalation in diplomatic friction between the two allies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Gallup Ends Historic Presidential Approval Tracking<\/h2>\n<p>In a major shift for political analytics, <strong>Gallup<\/strong> announced it is retiring its presidential approval question after <strong>88 years<\/strong> of continuous tracking. The firm, which began the survey during the Harry Truman era, stated the move reflects an &quot;evolution&quot; in its research focus toward broader social and economic conditions that shape lives.<\/p>\n<p>Analysts suggest the decision is also a response to the <strong>hardened partisanship<\/strong> of the current era, which has made traditional polling increasingly difficult to conduct and interpret. <em>The New York Times<\/em> (<a href=\"\/stock\/NYT\">NYT<\/a>) and other major outlets have noted that Gallup had recently become a consistent outlier, often reporting lower approval ratings for the current administration compared to other pollsters.<\/p>\n<h2>Pakistan-Afghanistan Conflict Reaches Boiling Point<\/h2>\n<p>Tensions in South Asia escalated sharply on Sunday as the <strong>Pakistani military<\/strong> conducted &quot;intelligence-based&quot; airstrikes inside Afghanistan. The strikes targeted what Islamabad described as hideouts for the <strong>Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)<\/strong> and <strong>ISIS-K<\/strong> in the provinces of Nangarhar and Paktika.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Afghan Foreign Ministry<\/strong> condemned the attacks as a &quot;blatant violation&quot; of sovereignty, reporting that the bombardment hit a madrasa and civilian homes, resulting in <strong>dozens of casualties<\/strong>. In response, Kabul has summoned Pakistan\u2019s ambassador and warned of a &quot;measured and appropriate&quot; retaliation, further destabilizing a region already reeling from recent suicide bombings.<\/p>\n<h2>Netanyahu Outlines New Middle East Alliance Strategy<\/h2>\n<p>Israeli Prime Minister <strong>Benjamin Netanyahu<\/strong> announced plans to forge new alliances &quot;around or within&quot; the Middle East to counter &quot;radical axes.&quot; This strategic push comes as Netanyahu maintains close ties with the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/thestockmarketwatch.com\/live\/trump-stock-market\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Trump\">Trump<\/a> administration<\/strong>, having visited Washington seven times since the start of the U.S. President&#39;s second term.<\/p>\n<p>Netanyahu highlighted the upcoming visit of Indian Prime Minister <strong>Narendra Modi<\/strong> as a cornerstone of this expanding network, describing India as a &quot;gigantic power.&quot; <em>The Wall Street Journal<\/em>, owned by News Corp (<a href=\"\/stock\/NWSA\">NWSA<\/a>), reported that these diplomatic maneuvers are aimed at neutralizing risks from both <strong>Shiite-led Iranian proxies<\/strong> and extremist <strong>Sunni groups<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>US-France Diplomatic Row Intensifies<\/h2>\n<p>French Foreign Minister <strong>Jean-No\u00ebl Barrot<\/strong> has officially summoned US Ambassador <strong>Charles Kushner<\/strong> to address comments regarding the death of far-right activist Quentin Deranque. France has rejected what it terms &quot;foreign interference&quot; in its domestic judicial and political matters following Kushner&#39;s public critiques.<\/p>\n<p>This move follows a series of public disagreements, including a letter Kushner recently published in <em>The Wall Street Journal<\/em> criticizing French President <strong>Emmanuel Macron<\/strong>. <em>The diplomatic spat signals a period of heightened friction between Paris and Washington over issues of national sovereignty and internal security policy.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Gallup is retiring its 88-year-old presidential approval poll, ending the longest-running political report card in U.S. history due [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[17520,4824,17521,5016,5032,5230,6855,8731,9691,12558,17495],"class_list":["post-58915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-us-france-relations","tag-geopolitics","tag-nwsa-stock-nwsa-2","tag-israel","tag-middle-east","tag-defense","tag-pakistan","tag-gallup","tag-afghanistan","tag-ttp","tag-nyt-stock-nyt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}