Should the Israeli President Take a Stand on Controversial Issues?

An IDI survey reveals how the Israeli public perceives the role of the President.

A survey conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute asked Israeli citizens their opinions on the role of the President. On the question of whether the President should express opinions on controversial issues that he or she considers important, greater support was found among Arab citizens of Israel (78%) than among Jewish citizens of Israel (53%). As for whether the President should express criticism over government policies that he sees as potentially damaging to the country, the Arab public was supportive of such criticism (65%), while the majority of Jews (51%) felt that it is wrong for the President to publicly criticize government policy.

The telephone survey was conducted in early March 2014 by the Midgam Research Institute. The survey included 603 respondents, who constitute a representative national sample of Israel's entire population aged 18 and over. The maximum measurement error for the entire sample is ±4.1% at a confidence level of 95%.