Poll finds huge fall in Netanyahu's approval rating
The Channel 2 poll found that 50 percent of Israelis were dissatisfied with Netanyahu and just 38% were satisfied, a 17% drop since a poll broadcast Thursday night.
By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMANNetanyahu at security meeting before end of cease-fire(photo credit: GPO)
The public’s satisfaction with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has dropped dramatically over the course of Operation Protective Edge, according to a poll broadcast on Monday on Channel 2.US President Barack Obama told The New York Times in an interview published August 8 that Netanyahu’s “poll numbers are a lot higher than mine” and “were greatly boosted by the war in Gaza.”The poll found that 50 percent of Israelis were dissatisfied with Netanyahu and just 38% were satisfied – a 17% drop since a poll broadcast Thursday night and a massive drop since his approval rating hit a peak of 82% on July 23 after ground troops entered the Gaza Strip.Netanyahu’s approval rating was 57% in the first week of Operation Protective Edge and 63% on August 5 after ground forces left Gaza and the operation appeared to end.The prime minister’s falling approval was indirectly proportional to the increase in Israeli fatalities and hit a nadir in Monday’s poll, which was taken while the funeral of 4-year-old Daniel Tragerman dominated the news.The polls were taken by Shiluv Millward Brown Market Research.When asked about the Netanyahu government’s treatment of residents in the communities surrounding the Strip, 24% called it good, while 68% said it was bad.Regarding whether to start the school year on September 1 if rocket fire continues, 18% said to open schools all over the country, 63% said school should begin everywhere except the South and 15% said every school in the country should remain closed.
