69% of Israelis want elections as soon as war ends, poll says
Two out of three Israelis (69%) want the country to hold new elections as soon as the war with Hamas ends, according to a new poll published this Tuesday, with a figure close to 100% (98.5%) on the political left and a slim majority (51.5%) on the political right, where Netanyahu’s government is based.
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, according to the survey by the Israel Institute for Democracy (IDI); 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 full sample is four points.
As for Israel’s war goals, things are less clear. A clear majority of Israeli Jews (71.5%) believe that the country’s central goal of destroying Hamas is achievable; When the country’s Arabs, who make up about a fifth of the population, are included, the figure 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 Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages on Friday. This is unlikely to have raised the Israelis’ hopes of success.
An uncertain future: As the war progresses, the future of Gaza has become an increasingly urgent issue for the Israeli government and the international community. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected calls for the Palestinian Autonomous Government, which administers parts of the West Bank, to retake control of Gaza. “Gaza will be neither Hamastan nor Fatahstan [referring to the major Palestinian faction, Fatah],” Netanyahu said last week. What is his plan? The IDI poll revealed that two-thirds of Israelis do not believe he has one.
A more immediate concern, especially for the international community, is the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza. The Hamas-run Health Ministry says 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 figures 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: Asked whether Palestinian suffering should be taken into account in war planning, 81% of Jewish Israelis say 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 interviewed online and by telephone in Hebrew and 101 in Arabic. The maximum sampling error was ±4.06% at a 95% confidence level, the IDI said. It is their seventh flash survey since the war began on October 7.