Poll reveals that Israelis support Netanyahu and are frustrated by Lapid

A Haaretz poll published on Friday reveals that 63 per cent of the Israeli public favours Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister, while frustration with Minister of Finance Yair Lapid has escalated to 75 per cent, constituting a major setback for his Yesh Atid Party, which won 19 seats in the last elections.

The poll reveals an increase in Netanyahu’s popularity in comparison to the newspaper’s last poll in July when only 56 per cent supported him.

When asked if Netanyahu is meeting the public’s expectations, 19 per cent of the respondents believed he did compared to only 6 per cent in July, constituting a sizable leap in the public’s satisfaction with the performance of the Likud-Beiteinu coalition.

Meanwhile, satisfaction with Israel’s Minister of Finance has tumbled from 51 per cent in July to only 4 per cent in the current poll. The remaining political blocks did not witness any fundamental change from the previous poll.

When asked whom they would vote for if the elections were held today, the Likud-Beiteinu coalition came on the top of the list with an improvement of one seat from the last poll to win 32 seats. Lapid’s There is a Future Party dropped from 19 to just 10 seats.

The poll shows stable support for the Jewish home Party led by Naftali Bennett and the Labour Party led by Shelly Yachimovich, with Bennett’s Party receiving 15 seats compared to 12 during the last election, and the Labour Party winning 17 seats compared to 15. According to the poll, support for the Arab political parties also parallels the last elections results, when they won 11 seats combined.

When asked if respondents support the current negotiations with the Palestinians, 38 per cent supported halting the negotiations compared to 49 per cent who want them to continue. 58 per cent of the respondents believe Netanyahu has succeeded in dealing with the Iranian file, while 32 per cent of them consider him to have failed.