(Jpost).A significant majority of the Jewish Israeli public is dissatisfied with the performance of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a Smith Research poll sponsored by The Jerusalem Post to coincide with Thursday’s second anniversary of the government’s formation.
It found that 30% of Israeli Jews considered the prime minister’s performance poor and 27% very poor. By contrast, only 11% said Netanyahu had performed very well, and 32% said well.
About half the voters on the Right were satisfied, compared to only 21% of respondents on the Left.
Likud supporters were overwhelmingly satisfied with Netanyahu, with 82% giving him a positive review, while only 17% of Kadima backers said they were satisfied. A similar poll a year ago found that only 68% of Likud supporters were satisfied with Netanyahu then.
Voters describing themselves as haredi, religious or traditional were more likely to be satisfied than secular respondents to the poll – 50%- 56% compared to 33%, respectively.
Asked whom they blamed for the diplomatic stalemate, 18% said Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, 12% said Netanyahu, and 25% said both equally. Six percent said they blamed US President Barack Obama, 10% blamed Obama and Abbas, and 5% Netanyahu and Obama. The remaining 24% did not express and opinion.
Among Arab respondents, most blamed Netanyahu. While right-wing respondents were more likely to blame Abbas than Netanyahu for the stalemate – 34% versus 12% – among leftwingers, 26% blamed Netanyahu and just 4% Abbas.
Forty percent of left-wing respondents and only 11% of right-wingers blamed both.
Most likely to blame Obama for the lack of progress were supporters of haredi parties. Of these, 19% held Obama solely responsible and 35% partially responsible, compared to Kadima supporters, among whom only 2% blamed Obama exclusively and 17% partially.
