According to a poll, 69% of Israelis want elections as soon as the war ends
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on December 10. (Source: Ronen Zvulun/Pool/AFP/Getty Images)
According to a new poll released on Tuesday, two out of three Israelis (69%) want new elections in the country as soon as the war with Hamas ends, with the share of the political left at almost 100% (98.5%), a slim majority ( 51.5%) on the political right, where Netanyahu's government is based.
According to the Israel Institute for Democracy (IDI) survey, the majority of voters (57%) affirm that they will remain in the same political bloc as in the last elections, but that they could change parties; 28% are undecided.
The IDI surveyed 604 people in Israel by telephone and online in Hebrew and Arabic from December 11 to 13. The margin of error for the entire sample is four points.
As for Israel's war aims, the situation is less clear. A clear majority of Israeli Jews (71.5%) believe that the country's central goal of destroying Hamas is achievable; If the country's Arabs, who make up about a fifth of the population, are taken into account, the number drops to 65%.
But only about a third (35.5%) believe the goal of returning the remaining 129 Israeli hostages home is achievable. It should be noted that this survey was conducted before Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers accidentally killed three Israeli hostages on Friday. This may not have awakened the Israelis' hopes of success.
An uncertain future: As the war progresses, the future of Gaza has become an increasingly pressing issue for the Israeli government and the international community. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected calls for the Palestinian autonomous government, which governs parts of the West Bank, to take back control of Gaza. “Gaza will be neither Hamastan nor Fatahstan [en referencia a la mayor facción palestina, Fatah]” Netanyahu said last week. What is his plan? The IDI poll found that two-thirds of Israelis do not believe he has one.
A more immediate concern, particularly for the international community, is the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza. According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, nearly 20,000 people have died. The figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians, but the militant group claims the majority were women and children.
The numbers are discouraging for both Israel's enemies and its allies; Even US President Joe Biden has criticized Israel for its “indiscriminate bombings”. Israelis don't seem too concerned: when asked whether Palestinian suffering should be taken into account in war planning, 81% of Jewish Israelis said it should be taken into account to a “fairly small” or “very small” extent.
The survey was conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute's Viterbi Family Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research. Data collection took place between December 11 and 13, 2023, with 503 men and women surveyed online and by telephone in Hebrew and 101 in Arabic. The maximum sampling error was ±4.06% at a 95% confidence level, according to the IDI. It is their seventh snap poll since the war began on October 7th.