Poll shows drastic drop in public’s trust of Lapid

The vast majority of Israelis don’t trust Yair Lapid as finance minister, and an even higher percentage doesn’t believe he’s a worthy candidate to one day replace Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister, a poll released Monday found.

Over 78 percent of the respondents said they didn’t trust Lapid as head of the treasury, compared to the 20% who voiced their confidence in the finance minister and Yesh Atid party chief.

The survey, conducted by the Knesset Channel among 500 people with a margin of error of up to 4.3%, found that 82% of the respondents said Lapid was unworthy of being prime minister, while only 12% thought he was capable of running the country.

In a separate question, people were asked to name the person best fit to be prime minister — Netanyahu, Lapid or opposition leader Shelly Yachimovich. Over 50% said none of the three was a worthy candidate, 27% named Netanyahu, 16% picked Yachimovich, and only 4% chose Lapid.

Most of those questioned said Lapid wasn’t a man of his word and had failed to keep his promises to Yesh Atid voters. Buoyed by the social justice protests of summer 2011, Yesh Atid promised to lower the cost of living for the middle class. Meanwhile, as finance minister, Lapid has raised taxes and slashed government services in an attempt to rein in Israel’s debt.

Among respondents who voted for Yesh Atid, 43% said they probably wouldn’t vote for Lapid in the next elections while 41% said they would.

The survey also found that, were national elections to be held today, Lapid’s party would fall from 19 to 13 seats in the next Knesset while the Likud-Beytenu alliance would slip from 31 to 30 seats. In contrast, the Labor Party would garner two more seats, earning 17 spots, the same number as the Jewish Home party, which currently has 12.