March 2015 Peace Index

Plurality of Israeli Jews Favor a Likud-Zionist Union Led Unity Government 

Israelis Jews Split Over Criticism of Netanyahu’s Election Day Comment on Israeli Arab Voting

The Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) and Tel Aviv University are releasing the monthly Peace Index poll, which this month surveys Israelis on satisfaction with the election results, their preferred coalition composition, views on the peace process, and more.

Election Aftermath

  • Satisfaction with the Election Results: 51% of Israeli Jews are satisfied with the results of the recent Knesset election, and 47% of Israeli Jews are not satisfied with the results of the election. (Satisfaction of Israeli Jews was highest among Likud voters (95%); dissatisfaction among Israeli Jews was highest among Zionist Union (92%) and Yesh Atid (85%) voters.) 54% of Israeli Arabs are not satisfied with the results, while 24% are satisfied.
  • Would Cast the Same Vote Again: If the election was held again today, 93% of Jewish Israelis and 75% of Arab Israelis would vote for the same party that they cast their ballot for in the recent election. 6% of Jewish Israelis and 6% of Arab Israelis would not vote for the same party again in today.
  • Preferred Coalition Composition: 49% of the Jewish public believe that a unity government whose senior partners are Likud and the Zionist Union would best serve Israel’s interests, while 35% believe a coalition of right-wing and religious parties would best serve Israel’s interests. (The highest support for a unity government in the Jewish public is found among those who said they had voted for Yesh Atid (83%), followed by Zionist Union voters (73%). The strongest support for a coalition of right-wing and religious parties in the Jewish public is found among United Torah Judaism (77%) and Bayit Yehudi voters (76%).)
  • Criticism of Netanyahu’s Comments: 48% of Jewish Israelis believe that the criticism of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Election Day call to vote because of large numbers of Arabs voting was justified, while 47% believe that the criticism was unjustified. 44% Arab Israelis believe that the criticism of Netanyahu’s Election Day call was justified, while 29% believe that the criticism was unjustified.

Peace Process

  • Imposition of a Palestinian-Israeli Settlement: 53% of the Jewish public and 31% of the Arab public believe that the US and the West will impose a two-state solution settlement on Israel, given the rift between the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government and growing Western criticism of Israeli policy on the Palestinian issue. 41% of the Jewish public and 29% of the Arab public do not believe that a settlement will be forced on Israel.
  • Withstanding the Imposition of a Solution: 53% of Israeli Jews think Israel will be able to successfully withstand an attempt to impose a political settlement on it, while 38% of Israeli Jews do not think Israel will be able to. 64% of Israeli Arabs do not think Israel will be able to withstand an attempt to impose a political settlement on it, and 18% think Israel will be able to withstand such an attempt.

This survey, conducted on March 29 - 30, 2015, included 600 respondents who constitute a representative sample of the adult population of Israel. The maximum measurement error for a sample of this size is ±4.1%.

The full results of the Peace Index are available on the Peace Index website.

For more information, contact:
Yehoshua Oz
Director of International Communications
press@idi.org.il