Israelis More Optimistic Ahead of New Year, Survey Finds
Ahead of the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) תשפ"ז, a survey by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) indicates a rise in public optimism. Thirty-five percent of all Israelis and 43% of Jewish Israelis believe the country is improving, up from 30% and 36% respectively last year. Concurrently, the percentage of pessimists, who believe Israel is deteriorating, has decreased from 38% to 30% among the general public and from 34% to 24% among Jewish Israelis.
Despite the overall increase in optimism, JPPI CEO Dr. Shuki Friedman cautioned that the social situation remains dire and requires addressing internal divisions, especially with an election year approaching. The optimism boost is not uniform across all sectors and highlights deep political divides. While 76% of right-wing supporters see Israel improving (up from 68% last year) and right-center supporters' optimism jumped from 32% to 42%, only 5% of Arab Israelis feel optimistic, with 54% remaining pessimistic. In the center and left, direct optimism saw no significant change, but fewer respondents believe deterioration will continue, with some shifting to a view that Israel is deteriorating but will eventually improve.
Looking back at the past year, perceptions vary by sector. The economic sphere shows improvement, with those calling the year bad dropping from 35% to 30%, and those calling it good rising from 11% to 18%. The security situation remains largely unchanged, with 37% deeming it bad, while half of the Jewish public considers it good or fair. However, the social sphere is identified as the most problematic, with 52% calling the year socially bad and only 4% calling it good, similar to last year. A significant gap exists here, with only 25% of right-wing respondents viewing the social situation as bad, compared to a sharp increase from 74% to 86% among left-center respondents.
Regarding the global situation, a stable gap persists, with 49% believing the world is deteriorating and only 12% believing it is improving.
