Six Months In, Government Gets Low Grades in All Areas
As the government completes its first six months in office respondents were asked to rate its performance in various fields. About three quarters of Israelis responded the government’s handling of the housing crisis and the high cost of living was poor.
Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90
- Following an increase over the last two months, this month brought instead a decline in optimism about the future of Israel’s security. The degree of optimism about the future of democratic rule in Israel remained stable. In both cases, only a minority of the public are optimistic.
- Regarding both issues, the share of optimists in the Jewish public is larger than that in the Arab public.
- While they remain a very large minority, we found a sharp fall of 20 percentage points in the share of optimists on the Right (Jews) about the future of Israel’s security.
- Six months after it was formed, the government was given low grades by respondents in all the areas of activity we asked about and was rated particularly poorly on economic issues by both coalition party voters and opposition party voters.
- Regarding the individual performance of the prime minister, the majority of coalition party voters think that he is doing a good job of leading his government, a view shared by only a minority of voters for opposition parties.
- On the topic of the government’s judicial reforms, around one-half of voters for coalition parties would like to see the implementation of these reforms continue as planned. By contrast, the majority of opposition party voters would like to see this legislative process halted.
- The majority of voters for opposition parties think that President Herzog has served as a fair mediator in the negotiations he is hosting between the two sides. Only a minority of coalition party voters hold the same view.
- When asked about the motivations behind the decision not to extend the terms of office of Israel Police Commissioner Shabtai and Bank of Israel Governor Yaron, many selected the “don’t know” response. However, it is clear that voters for coalition parties have a stronger tendency to attribute it to professional considerations than do voters for opposition parties, who tend to view the decision as largely a product of political considerations.
- Around half of Jewish respondents and the majority of Arab respondents think that the country’s treatment of the members of Israel’s Druze community is unfair, given their contribution to Israeli society.
After two months of rising optimism about the future of Israel’s security, this month once again saw a significant fall of 12 percentage points in the share of optimists (from 43% in May to 31% in June). In fact, this month’s is one of the lowest three findings recorded since we began our measurement of this issue. There was only a slight decline in the share of optimists about the future of democratic rule in Israel, which is now larger than the share of optimists about the future of Israel’s security.
Optimistic about the future of democratic rule in Israel and about the future of national security, January 2021–June 2023 (total sample; %)
There is a huge difference between Jews and Arabs on both issues, with a higher share of optimists among Jewish respondents than among Arab respondents in both cases. Moreover, within each public, the share of optimists is very similar for each issue, which might indicate that the responses reflect a general mood rather than specific views on each topic – Israel’s security and the future of democracy.
|
Total sample (%) |
Jews |
Arabs |
|
Optimistic about the future of Israel’s security |
35 |
13 |
|
Optimistic about the future of democratic rule in Israel |
38 |
11.5 |
Breaking down the Jewish sample by political orientation reveals that with regard to the future of democratic rule in Israel, the share of optimists on the Left and in the Center is very low, and is in fact close to that found in the Arab public, while on the Right the optimists constitute a majority, albeit small. Regarding Israel’s security, the share of optimists on the Left and in the Center is slightly higher than for the future of democratic rule, while the equivalent share on the Right is a plurality, but not a majority. However, it should be noted that in May 2023, 64% of those on the Right were optimistic about the future of Israel’s national security – 20 percentage points higher than today.
|
Jewish sample (%) |
Left |
Center |
Right |
|
Optimistic about the future of Israel’s security |
20 |
23 |
45 |
|
Optimistic about the future of democratic rule in Israel |
10 |
15 |
57 |
Half a year after the government was established, we wanted know how our respondents grade its performance in different areas. The findings show that for each of the seven areas we asked about, only a minority of the total sample give the current government a grade of good or excellent. The scores are slightly better for the government’s performance in promoting Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria (36%), addressing the Iranian threat (26%), and improving Israel’s international standing (23%), but on economic issues—addressing the high cost of living and addressing the housing crisis—there is broad public consensus that the government has failed so far.
On a scale from very poor to excellent, what grade would you give the government in each of the following areas? (total sample; %)
A breakdown of responses by vote at the last elections reveals several interesting though unsurprising findings: First, for most of the issues examined there is a huge discrepancy between the assessments given by voters for coalition parties and those given by voters for opposition parties. Yet even among those who voted for it, the government did not receive a high grade in any of the areas we asked about. Second, the areas on which there is less difference between coalition and opposition voters are economic issues (on the one hand), for which the government’s performance received relatively low grades across the board, and (on the other) the promotion of settlements in Judea and Samaria, for which the government scored relatively highly. In the latter case, however, the high scores given by opposition party voters are not a compliment, but rather a criticism of the expansion of settlements in this region.
Give the government a grade of good/excellent in each of the following areas (total sample, by vote at the last elections; %)
In addition to rating the government overall, we also asked our respondents to grade the performance of Prime Minister Netanyahu. Less than a quarter of interviewees awarded him a grade of good or excellent for his leadership of the government he heads, while the majority (56%) gave a grade of poor or very poor. The differences between coalition party voters and opposition party voters are greater when it comes to rating the prime minister than for the functioning of the government as a whole: While half of the coalition voters gave the prime minister a grade of good or excellent for his leadership of the government, only a tiny minority of opposition voters did the same.
What grade would you give Prime Minister Netanyahu for his leadership of the government he heads? (%)
At the moment, there would appear to be three main possibilities for the future of the judicial reform being advanced by the government, and the Israeli public is divided in its preferences: In the total sample, the most common option chosen (though still only by a minority) was that the legislative process should be halted (36%), followed by the option for the program to continue only with broad agreement (29%). In third place was the option to continue with the legislation in its current form, in accordance with the coalition’s majority in the Knesset (25%).
Regarding the legislative program that the government is pursuing, which of the following options do you think is preferable? (total sample; %)
Compared with our findings from two months ago, there has been no change on this issued among opposition party voters, while the position taken by coalition party voters has hardened, from a large minority in April (43%) in favor of passing the reform in its current form to a majority today (51%), with a parallel decline in support for achieving broad agreement (from 36% two months ago to 29% now).
It is also worth noting the discrepancies on this issue between voters for different parties, both those in the coalition and those in the opposition. While a majority of voters for Religious Zionism and for the Haredi parties think that the legislation should be advanced in its current form, only a minority of Likud voters agree. And in the opposition, almost half of the voters for National Unity say that the legislation should be advanced but only with broad agreement, while a majority of the voters for other opposition parties think that the legislation should be halted outright.
Regarding the legislative program that the government is pursuing, which of the following options do you think is preferable? (total sample, by vote at the last elections; %)
|
|
Continue the legislation as it is |
Continue the legislation with broad agreement |
Halt the legislation |
Don’t know |
Total |
|
Religious Zionism |
69 |
18 |
7 |
6 |
100 |
|
United Torah Judaism |
69 |
25 |
0 |
6 |
100 |
|
Shas |
58 |
30 |
4 |
8 |
100 |
|
Likud |
38 |
35 |
13.5 |
13.5 |
100 |
|
National Unity |
11 |
49 |
37 |
3 |
100 |
|
Hadash-Ta’al |
0 |
25 |
52 |
23 |
100 |
|
Yisrael Beytenu |
0 |
38 |
55 |
7 |
100 |
|
Labor |
0 |
33 |
63 |
4 |
100 |
|
Ra’am |
2.5 |
15 |
67 |
14.5 |
100 |
|
Yesh Atid |
2 |
31 |
61 |
6 |
100 |
It recently emerged that the terms of office of Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai and Governor of the Bank of Israel Prof. Amir Yaron will not be extended. We asked our respondents whether they think each of these decisions was influenced mainly by professional considerations or political considerations. We found that in both cases, the pubic attributes the decision mainly to the political considerations of the decision-makers, though this interpretation was more common in the case of the police commissioner. In addition, an unusually large share of respondents chose the “don’t know” option.
Why were the terms of office of Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai and Governor of the Bank of Israel Amir Yaron not extended? (total sample; %)
Breaking down the responses to this question by vote at the last elections reveals that in both cases (police commissioner and governor of the Bank of Israel), a majority of voters for opposition parties attribute the decision largely to political considerations (commissioner, 73%; governor, 68%), and only a small minority of them think that the considerations used were professional.
By contrast, voters for coalition parties are almost equally divided in the case of the police commissioner over whether the decision not to extend his term of office was driven by political or professional considerations (professional considerations, 34%; political considerations, 32%). Regarding the governor of the Bank of Israel, the largest share of coalition voters attribute the decision to professional considerations (professional considerations, 35%; political considerations, 25%).
|
|
Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai |
Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron |
||
|
|
Term of office not extended mainly due to political reasons |
Term of office not extended mainly due to professional reasons |
Term of office not extended mainly due to political reasons |
Term of office not extended mainly due to professional reasons |
|
Opposition party voters |
73 |
7 |
68 |
9 |
|
Coalition party voters |
32 |
34 |
25 |
35 |
We found large discrepancies between voters for different parties on this issue. Around one-half of the voters for Religious Zionism and for United Torah Judaism think that the decisions not to extend the terms of office of the police commissioner and the governor of the Bank of Israel stemmed from professional considerations, while on the other hand, only around one-quarter of Likud and Shas voters share the same view. Meanwhile, almost all voters for opposition parties agree that that in both cases, the decision was not guided by professional considerations.
Think that the decisions not to extend the terms of office were driven by professional considerations (total sample, by vote at the last elections; %)
The recent protests by the Druze community have brought public attention back to the question of whether Israel treats its Druze population fairly. We asked our respondents whether they agree with the following statement: “The Druze receive unfair treatment from the State of Israel despite their contribution to the state in various areas.” The Jewish public is divided on this issue, while a majority of Arabs think that the Druze receive unfair treatment from the state, given their contribution. A breakdown of Arab respondents by religion reveals that a majority of all three religious groups agree that the Druze do not receive fair treatment, though as expected, the level of agreement is much higher among Druze respondents (92%) than among Christian and Muslim respondents (73% and 55.5%, respectively).
Do the Druze receive unfair treatment from the State of Israel despite their contribution to the state in various areas? (Jewish and Arab samples; %)
Breaking down the responses from Jewish interviewees reveals large differences among political camps: While those on the Left and in the Center think that the state’s treatment of the Druze is unfair, considering their contribution, only a minority of those on the Right share the same view.
|
Jewish sample (%) |
Left |
Center |
Right |
|
The Druze do not receive fair treatment from the state |
81 |
62 |
35 |
|
The Druze receive fair treatment from the state |
14 |
31 |
58 |
|
Don’t know |
5 |
7 |
7 |
|
Total |
100 |
100 |
100 |
The June 2023 Israeli Voice Index was prepared by the Viterbi Family Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research at the Israel Democracy Institute. The survey was conducted via the internet and by telephone (to include groups that are under-represented on the internet) between June 25 and 28, 2023, with 620 men and women interviewed in Hebrew and 173 in Arabic, constituting a nationally representative sample of the adult population in Israel aged 18 and over. The maximum sampling error was ±3.55% at a confidence level of 95%. Field work was carried out by the Dialogue Research and Polling Institute. The full data file can be found at: https://dataisrael.idi.org.il.