Support for Netanyahu plummets further in new poll

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s popularity rating fell to a new low on Wednesday, according to a Channel 2 poll conducted in the wake of Tuesday’s Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.

The survey, conducted by Shiluv Millward Brown, indicated that 59% of participants were happy with the prime minister’s handling of the campaign, and just 32% were happy with Netanyahu.

The same survey showed that 54% of respondents were opposed to the ceasefire, and 37% supported it.

A majority — 59% — do not believe Israel won against Hamas (29% believe it did). Still, the public’s satisfaction with the army’s performance stands at 83%.

A Haaretz survey published Wednesday morning showed Netanyahu with even lower support. Fifty-two percent were pleased with the prime minister, and 40% were not, its results showed. The prime minister, it noted, saw 77% support in an August 5 Haaretz poll.

A Channel 2 poll Monday showed that on August 25 — 49 days into Operation Protective Edge — only 38 percent of Israelis “supported” Netanyahu, while a full 50% were dissatisfied.

That number represented a steep decline for Netanyahu and a steady deterioration over the course of Operation Protective Edge. Just four days previously, on August 21, his approval rating was 55%; and three weeks previously, on August 5, his approval rating stood at 63%.

On July 23, shortly after the start of the ground operation in Gaza aimed at destroying Hamas’s “terror tunnels,” Netanyahu’s approval rating was 82%.

The Channel 2 poll results were released without information on sample size, methodology or margin of error, and a Channel 2 staff member reached on its news desk declined to give further details.