The Israeli Voice Index for the month of July 2023 updates: the political divide in the public is deepening.
The survey was conducted by The Viterbi Family Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research at The Israeli Democracy Institute. It is published monthly and examines citizens' stances on central issues.
The editors of the index, Prof. Tamar Herman and Dr. Or Anavi, point out that: "While many findings prove the continuation and even the deepening of polarization in the positions of the two main blocs - the voters of the coalition parties and the voters of the opposition parties, at the same time one can also find restraining factors. For example, the majority on both sides would have preferred to find a compromise before the law canceling The Clause of Reasonability was passed in its strict form, as well as the relatively non-strict attitude, including on the right, regarding volunteer reservists who do not show up when they are called for service."
According to the conducted examination, there is no majority for the idea of a state of emergency government, but a significant minority supports it. It also emerges that there are significant disparities in the positions and perceptions of reality among the supporters of the coalition and the opposition in most of the examined areas.
However, the majority of the people believe that it would be better if a compromise was reached in the law canceling The Clause of Reasonability before the legislation.
The findings showed that 38% and 36% of the public in Israel are optimistic about the future of democratic government in Israel and about the future of Israel's security.
Among the voters of the opposition parties, the level of optimism is low in both respects (11% and 15%), and among the voters of the coalition parties, the majority are optimistic (69% and 60%).
The personal mood of the respondents is also similarly distributed - among the voters of the opposition parties, 67% report a bad mood, while 63% of the voters of the coalition parties report a normal mood.
The gap between the two blocs is also very evident in the evaluation of the effect of the repeal of The Clause of Reasonability - while 91% of the voters of the opposition parties believe that this is a bad law for Israel, 72% of the voters of the coalition parties believe that it is a good law for the country.
However, 68% of the total sample and a majority among the voters of both blocs would have preferred that a compromise had been reached before the enactment of the law in order to soften it (62% of the coalition voters and 80% of the opposition voters). Opposition voters express very high dissatisfaction with their leadership, compared to coalition voters.
In the entire sample, 46% oppose the idea of an emergency government headed by Netanyahu in which the center parties will replace the religious Zionist party, 39% support such a move. 42% of the entire sample believes that the performance of the police during the demonstrations is bad, compared to 30% who thought so in March of this year.
64.5% believe that the government will continue the legislative moves immediately upon the opening of the next Knesset session or will slow them down a little, and only 17% believe that it will reduce the move or stop it altogether. Among the voters of the coalition parties, 62.5% do not fear that the warnings of the credit companies to lower Israel's rating will hurt them financially. On the other hand, among the voters of the opposition parties, 59% fear this.