Israelis Almost Equally Divided on the Future of the Current Coalition
The May 2023 edition of the Israeli Voice Index, a monthly survey conducted by the Viterbi Family Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research, revealed that 43% of Israelis expressed trust in the Supreme Court, compared to only 29% of respondents who said they trust the government (i.e. the Cabinet) and 26% in the Knesset. The municipalities and local authorities garnered the highest level of trust (52%).
The survey found that 55% of Israelis are opposed to funding educational institutions that do not teach a basic core curriculum (21.5% “think” they should not be funded and 33% are “certain”).
When asked to evaluate the relations between different groups in Israel, 67% responded that relations between the political Right and Left were “bad.” Moreover, 57% and 45% perceive relations between Arabs and Jews and between the secular and religious in Israel “bad” respectively. The only two groups considered by a large share of respondents to have good relations between them are the Ashkenazim and Mizrahim.
Main findings:
Trust in Institutions
Respondents were asked to what extent they trust public institutions, including the Knesset, the government, the Supreme Court and municipal and local authorities. Despite months of public dispute over the role of the Supreme Court, it still retains steady levels of trust among the public: 43%. A breakdown of the findings shows that higher levels were recorded among the Arab public, with 55% of Arab respondents expressing trust in the Supreme Court. The differences between the political Left and Right are particularly stark in this regard, as only a small minority of the Right trust the Supreme Court, compared to a very large majority in the Left.
Trust in the government and Knesset did rise over the past few months, but is still lower than in the Supreme Court, with only 29% and 26% of the public expressing trust in these institutions, respectively.
Local authorities and municipalities enjoy high levels of trust with a 52% positive response among the general public. Levels were significantly higher among the Jewish public (55%) compared with the Arab Israelis (38%).
Future of the Israeli Government
Likelihood of current government completing its term: Israelis are almost equally divided in their estimation of the future of the current coalition, 44) %, compared to 43.5%).
Two States for One People? Israelis Want to Stay United
Despite the increasing polarization in Israeli society, only 15% support the idea that Israel should be divided into two political entities: a secular liberal entity (“Israel”) with Tel-Aviv at its center and a conservative religious entity (Judea”) with Jerusalem as its center.
Agree that the state should fund Haredi schools that do not teach core curriculum studies such as civics, mathematics, and English (Jewish sample, by religiosity; %)
Over half of the Israeli public (55%) leans against government funding to educational institutions that do not teach core curriculum studies. Only a minority of respondents (36.5%) support government funding for these institutions.
How would you define the relations today between the following groups in Israeli society?
67% of Israelis feel that relations between the political Right and Left are bad,” with a high percentage, 57%, also rating relations between Arabs and Jews as “bad.” Perception among Arab Israelis of relations between the two groups is not as negative as it is among the Jewish public. Only 44% of Arab respondents replied that relations between Arabs and Jews are bad, compared to 58% among Jews.
An inverse relationship exists in the public attitude toward secular and religious polarization. 44% of Jewish respondents answered that relations between secular and religious are bad, compared to 53% among Arab respondents.
Despite its prevalence in recent public discourse, relations between Mizrahi and Ashkenazi Jews in Israel were the least contentious, with 39% of respondents, answering that relations were good.
The Israeli Voice Index for May 2023 was prepared by the Viterbi Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research of the Israel Democracy Institute. In the survey, which was conducted on the internet and by telephone (supplements of groups that are not sufficiently represented on the network) from May, 28 to June, 1 2023, 624 men and women were interviewed in Hebrew and 143 in Arabic, constituting a representative national sample of the entire adult population of Israel aged 18 and older. The maximum sampling error for the entire sample was 3.61%± at a confidence level of 95%. The fieldwork was done by the dialogue Institute. For the full data file see:
https://dataisrael.idi.org.il