Poll: Israelis sour on PM and ministers, more than 2/3 give government failing score

A Channel 12 poll held ahead of the government’s two-year anniversary on Sunday finds that 68 percent of the public disapprove of its performance, as opposed to just 26% who approve and six percent who say they didn’t know.

Even among those who voted for coalition parties in the previous election, only 53% say they approved of the government’s performance, compared to 37% who disapproved.

Among the general public, the unfavorables of Netanyahu and every government minister were higher than their respective favorables.

Sixty-one percent say Netanyahu is doing a bad job, 34% think he is doing a good job, and 5% didn’t know.

Among the premier’s voters, the figures shift to 26% disapproval and 68% disapproval, with six percent of respondents unsure.

The minister with the highest disapproval rating is Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich, whose Religious Zionism party has struggled to cross the electoral threshold in recent surveys. In the Channel 12 poll, 70% of respondents describe Smotrich’s job performance as “bad,” 20% as “good” and 10% say they don’t know.

Transportation Minister Miri Regev scores 68% “bad” and 19% “good” with 13% saying they don’t know; National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir — 64% “bad” and 28% “good,” with 8% saying they don’t know; Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf — 62% “bad” and 15% “good,” with 23% saying they don’t know; Justice Minister Yariv Levin — 61% “bad” and 25% “good,” with 14% saying they don’t know; Education Minister Yoav Kisch — 59% “bad” and 20% “good,” with 21% saying they don’t know; Regional Cooperation Minister David Amsalem — 58% “bad” and 17% “good,” with 25% saying they don’t know; Economy Minister Nir Barkat — 58% “bad” and 23% “good,” with 19% saying they don’t know; Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi — 56% “bad” and 22% “good,” with 22% saying they don’t know; and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar — 55% “bad” and 22% “good,” with 23% saying they don’t know.

The ministers with the lowest gap between their approval and disapproval ratings are: Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, whose job performance was described by 37% of respondents as “bad” and 35% as “good,” with 28% saying they don’t know; Defense Minister Israel Katz, who receives 50% “bad” and 31% “good,” with 19% saying they don’t know; and Culture Minister Miki Zohar — 45% “good” and 30% “bad,” with 25% saying they don’t know.

All ministers had a higher disapproval than approval rating in the poll, Channel 12 says. According to the network, six ministers even score a negative approval margin among Netanyahu supporters: Kisch, Regev, Smotrich, Goldknopf, Barkat and Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman. However, Channel 12 does not provide the breakdown of these ministers’ support among the premier’s partisans.

The survey also finds that among all respondents, National Unity chair Benny Gantz holds a slight lead over his second-in-command, MK Gadi Eisenkot, on the question of which of the two opposition lawmakers is a better fit for prime minister: 25% say Gantz, 23% say Eisenkot, 41% say neither and 11% say they don’t know.

Among supporters of the opposition, however, Eisenkot leads Gantz 38%-30%, with 22% saying neither and 10% saying they don’t know.

The poll was conducted by Mano Geva’s Midgam polling company in cooperation with the iPanel online research firm. Channel 12 does not provide the poll’s sample size or margin of error.