Polls find Israelis optimistic - except on peace

Three separate polls in leading Israeli dailies all find Israelis to be satisfied despite challenges that may lie ahead.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
ISraeli flags at Labor annual parade_311 (photo credit: Reuters)
ISraeli flags at Labor annual parade_311
(photo credit: Reuters)
A series of lengthy surveys published in the three top-circulation Hebrew newspapers over the weekend found that Israelis were optimistic for the new year on on security, economic, and personal issues, but skeptical and defiant when it comes to prospects for peace.
A Gal Hadash poll in Israel's leading daily Israel Hayom, a Dahaf Institute poll in Yediot Aharonot, and a poll in Ma'ariv conducted by Kelim Shluvim all found Israelis to be satisfied despite challenges that may lie ahead.
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The Kelim Shluvim poll found that 73.8 percent of Israelis were optimistic about Israel's strength while 26.2% were pessimistic. According to the Dahaf poll, 59% believe that Israel's security situation is good and 41% deem it not good.
The Gal Hadash poll found that 76.5% were optimistic about the coming year and 18.6% were pessimistic, when rephrased to refer to what would happen in the country the percentage that were optimistic went down to 54.9 and the the percentage that were pessimistic went up to 37.5.
According to the Gal Hadash poll, 68.9% of Israelis are satisfied with life in the country and 28.4% are dissatisfied. When the Dahaf Institute asked whether Israel is a good place to live in, 88% said yes and 11% said no. Asked about their mood going into the coming year, 88% told Dahaf good or very good and 12% said not good.
On economic issues, 74% of Israelis told Dahaf that their economic situation was good and 25% said not good. When Gal Hadash asked how Israelis define their economic situation compared to last year, 54.4% said the same, 29.1% said less good, and 15.6% said better.
Regarding chances for achieving peace with the Palestinians, 54% told Kelim Shluvim that there was no chance, 23% said a good chance, and 23% said a small chance. Gal Hadash found that 47.9% did not believe it was possible to reach an agreement with the Palestinians, 33.2% said they were skeptical, and 15.7% said they believed it was possible.
When Dahaf asked whether they would be in favor of a peace deal in which Israel "withdrew to pre-1967 borders but kept the West Bank settlement blocs," 55% said no and 40% said yes.
The Kelim Shluvim poll asked whether Israel needed to withdraw to pre-1967 borders for a peace agreement with the Palestinians. The results were that 58.1% said no, 24.2% said "yes, if Israel kept the settlement blocs," 12.6% said yes on condition that the Palestinians concede on Jerusalem and the right of return of refugees to Israel's final borders, and 5.2% said that "Israel's occupation is unethical."
According to Kelim Shluvim, 86% of Israelis oppose apologizing to Turkey for the deaths of nine Turkish militants on the Mavi Marmara. Fourteen percent said Israel should apologize.
The Gal Hadash poll of 500 respondents was taken September 26 and had a 4.4% margin of error. The Dahaf poll of 500 respondents was taken last week and had a 4.5% margin of error. The Kelim Shluvim poll of 523 respondents was taken on September 21-22. All the pollsters said the respondents were a representative sample of the adult Israeli population.