Survey purports to show backing for PM fading amid health crisis

Results of a survey published by Channel 12 news claim to show waning support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as the nation struggles to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

When asked to rate Netanyahu’s handling of the crisis from a health point of view, 46 percent said it was bad, while 43% said good. In May, according to the channel, 74% said he was handling it well and 23% said poorly.

Asked the same, but from an economic point of view, 33% say he is doing well and 62% say poorly. In May, 43% said poorly and 53% said he was doing well.

Asked if they trust the government’s handling of the second wave of the virus, 59% say no, compared to 37% who say yes.

The channel says that if elections were held today, Likud would get 37 seats, down from 40 in earlier surveys, but could still easily form a right-wing / ultra-Orthodox coalition, with 64 seats. The Joint List and Yesh Atid would get 15 seats apiece, according to the survey. Blue and White would get 11 seats, it says. Yamina would get 11, up from 8 in recent surveys.

The channel says the survey was conducted by Midgam; it does not specify when it was conducted, how many people were surveyed, who was surveyed, how they were surveyed or even a margin of error. It has not initially released any methodological data at all and it is unclear if the numbers presented represent actual answers to the survey or the channel’s analysis of those answers, raising questions as to the reliability of the survey.