Trust in Israeli Leaders, Especially PM, Plummets over Pandemic

The latest in a series of surveys on public sentiment among Israeli citizens regarding the coronavirus pandemic shows a dramatic drop in trust for the country’s leadership. The survey conducted on July 12 by the non-partisan Israel Democracy Institute shows a rise in concerns regarding both infections in the immediate family and short-term economic wellbeing. Among Arab citizens, infection concerns went from72% of the respondents in the June 9 IDI survey to 75%, while economic concerns went from 74% to 76%. Among Jewish citizens, infection concerns increased from 57% on June 9 to 75%, and short-term economic concerns rose from 50% to 58%. Among all citizens, confidence levels in government health experts dropped by close to 20% since June 9, to 40.5%, and regarding economic experts, it declined by 16%, to just 23%. As for the public’s view of the way Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has been handling the crisis, trust in him fell precipitously between June 9 and July 12, from 47% to just 29.5%. Interestingly, trust in the prime minister among supporters of his Likud party dropped from 83% to 55% between those dates.