Majority of Israelis in favor of national unity government, poll finds

Response to Peace Index Poll very different than surveys taken before the March 17 election, which consistently found that a large majority of Israelis opposed a unity government.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Herzog and Netanyahu (photo credit: REUTERS)
Herzog and Netanyahu
(photo credit: REUTERS)
A plurality of Israelis are in favor of a national unity government that would include the Likud and the Zionist Union, the monthly Peace Index Poll sponsored by the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University found on Wednesday.
When asked which government would better serve the nation’s interest, a government of right-wing and religious parties or a unity government of the Likud and the Zionist Union, 49 percent of Jewish respondents said a unity government, 35.2% said a right-wing and religious government, 9% said both to the same degree or neither, and 6.7% said they did not know or declined to answer.
Among Arab citizens, the overwhelming majority said either the two governments would be the same, neither was preferred or declined to answer.
The responses were very different from surveys taken before the March 17 election, which consistently found that a large majority of Israelis opposed a unity government.
Regarding relations with the United States, 42% of Jewish Israelis said they were poor or very poor and 17.2% said they were good or very good. Among Arabs, 17.6% said Israel’s relations with the US were poor or very poor and 60% said they were good or very good.
Asked whether the US and the West will try to impose a two-state solution on Israel, 49.7% of all respondents said the chances were moderately high or were very high and 38.7% of said moderately low or very low. Some 46.8% said they thought Israel would be able to withstand such pressure and 41.8% said they did not believe Israel could withstand it.
As Peace Index Polls have found consistently, the overwhelming majority of Israelis are in favor of conducting diplomatic negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, yet the overwhelming majority does not believe such talks will about peace with the Palestinians in the coming years.
Some 66.7% of the respondents said they were strongly or moderately in favor of such talks and 24.9% were strongly or moderately opposed.
Only 6.9% of the respondents strongly believe such talks would lead to peace, 24.4% moderately believe they would lead to peace, 22.6% moderately do not believe they would lead to peace, 41.5% do not believe at all that they would lead to peace, and 4.6% declined to answer or said they did not know.
The survey, conducted on March 29-30, included 600 respondents who constitute a representative sample of the adult population. The maximum measurement error for a sample of this size is ±4.1%.