According to the results of an Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) poll released on Tuesday, only 15% of Israelis surveyed want PM Benjamin Netanyahu to stay in office after the war in Gaza is over.
The survey was conducted by the Viterbi Family Centre for Public Opinion and Policy Research at IDI between 25 and 28 December 2023, with a representative sample of 605 Jewish Israelis and 151 Arab Israelis.
Only 15% of Israelis want Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stay in office after the war on Hamas in Gaza ends, though many more still support his strategy of crushing the militants in the Palestinian enclave https://t.co/p2zdKFzZEm
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 2, 2024
Overview
When asked who they would like as PM after the war, over a third of those surveyed (30.5%) stated they did not know or replied “no-one.” Another 8% did not provide a name, while 4% said they wanted someone new who was not part of the political establishment, and 4% said “anyone but Bibi (Netanyahu).”
The poll indicates Benny Gantz, the leader of the National Unity party, was chosen as the Jewish sample’s ideal post-war PM by 25% of the interviewees. Netanyahu received 15% of the vote; others from the moderate right and centre-left included Naftali Bennett (7.5%) and Yair Lapid (5%).
In the breakdown of the Jewish sample by religiosity, Netanyahu and Gantz are tied among the traditional religious (Gantz, 26%; Netanyahu, 25%) and traditional non-religious respondents (Gantz, 26%; Netanyahu, 25%), while Gantz has a significant edge among the secular respondents (39% versus 6%).
The responses by vote in the past elections reveal that a majority (55%) of National Unity voters want Gantz to be PM after the war, while none want Netanyahu.
75% of Israelis Reject US Demand to Shift Phase of War
When asked about the US demanding Israel to shift to a different phase of the war in Gaza, with a priority on reducing heavy bombing of densely populated areas, a majority of the total sample (66%) responded negatively, with only about a quarter (23%) responding favourably.
A vast majority of Jews (75%) reject acting on US demand, while a majority of Arabs (56%) support Israel obeying Washington’s demands and moving into a new phase of the war, the poll said.
"In the poll conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), 56% of those questioned said continuing the military offensive was the best way to recover the hostages, while 24% thought a swap deal including the release of thousands more Palestinian prisoners from Israel's jails…
— Israel Democracy Institute (@IDIisrael) January 2, 2024
Israelis’ Diverse Opinions on Hostage Situation
When asked about the best way to bring about the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, the majority of respondents (56%) believe that continuing the intensive fighting and IDF forces plan to free the hostages is the best course of action, while a minority (24%) think that it would be better to “release all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, even though this means agreeing to Hamas’ demand to halt the fighting.”
In the Jewish sample, 65% supported intense fighting to free the hostages, while 16% preferred the freeing of all Palestinian prisoners.
Meanwhile, 11.5% of Arab respondents advocated intense fighting to free the hostages, while 63% preferred the release of all Palestinian prisoners.
Furthermore, a significant number of both the Jewish (19%) and Arab (25.5%) samples chose the “don’t know” response, indicating that many Israelis have no idea what is best.
Gaza health officials recently reported that more than 22,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war thus far, with the majority of the population displaced. Israel claims to have killed 8,000 Palestinian fighters and vowed to fight Hamas leaders “to the end.”