In the midst of the crisis over the coronavirus, a majority of Israelis believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is handling it well, according to a poll taken for the Israel Democracy Institute.
The poll of 611 Israelis representing a statistical sample of the Israeli adult population asked about several public figures and counted what percent of them gave the public figures grades of good or very good.
Sixty percent gave Netanyahu at lest a good grade. The only public figure who scored higher was Health Ministry Director-General Moshe Bar Siman Tov, with 68%.
The rest of the public figures did not get a positive grade from a majority of the public. Health Minister Yaakov Litzman got a good grade from 40% of respondents, Blue and White leader Benny Gantz from 34%, former Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein 31% and incoming opposition leader Yair Lapid 18%.
As for institutions, the hospitals received a positive score from 83%, the media from 58% and the Finance Ministry from 39%.
Despite the crisis, a majority of the interviewees (60%) reported that their mood was very good or moderately good, while 37% defined their mood as moderately bad or very bad.
Seventy-five percent are very afraid or moderately afraid that they or one of their family members will be infected with the coronavirus, and about the same number (73.5%) acknowledge that they fear for their own economic situation.
A majority of the public (53%) thinks the steps taken by the government to prevent infection with the coronavirus, up to the point the survey was conducted, are appropriate, and another slightly more than one-third (36%) believes they are not strict enough. Only a small minority (7%) sees the steps that have been taken as overly strict.
The poll was taken last week by the Midgam Institute and had a margin of error of 3.7%.