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 HOFFMAN
Netanyahu at security meeting before end of cease-fire (photo credit: GPO)
Netanyahu 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.