Israeli political poll sees major dissatisfaction with Ben-Gvir, Smotrich

The National Security Ministry and the Finance Ministry rank at the bottom of public satisfaction with government ministries, according to a a new poll released this past weekend.

The poll found that only 29% of the public expressed satisfaction with the functionality of Itamar Ben-Gvir's National Security Ministry, while only 24% were satisfied with Bezalel Smotrich's Finance Ministry.

The Justice Ministry, led by Yariv Levin, also received low satisfaction ratings, with only 25% of respondents feeling content. On the other hand, the Defense and Health Ministries were at the top of the list, with 61% and 55% satisfaction, respectively.

The survey revealed widespread dissatisfaction with the government, as 73% of respondents expressed dissatisfaction with its performance. Additionally, 78% of respondents believed that the government was not attentive to their problems.

The prime minister's standing

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also faced disapproval, with 73% of respondents expressing dissatisfaction with his performance. In contrast to their attitude toward the government, the public demonstrated a high level of trust in the IDF, as 72% of respondents largely believed in the IDF's ability to maintain national security. Only 9% expressed little trust in the IDF.

Interestingly, only half of the public rejected conspiracy theories surrounding the October 7 attack. When asked about their belief in the claim that senior officials in the security establishment knew about the attack but hid it from Netanyahu, approximately 46% strongly rejected the conspiracy theory.

However, 18% of respondents believed it to be true, 9% remained neutral, and 26% admitted to not knowing. This indicates that approximately half of the respondents were open to conspiracy theories regarding the attack to varying degrees.

Gun control in Israel

During the war, the National Security Ministry has facilitated the issuance of licenses for private gun ownership. The survey revealed that 42% of respondents believed private gun ownership should be supported in current times.

In contrast, 27% were opposed to citizens owning weapons, and 31% held a neutral opinion. Support for private gun ownership was significantly lower among Arab respondents (9%) compared to Jewish respondents (51%).

The poll was conducted by the Institute for Liberty and Responsibility at Reichman University in collaboration with iPanel during the sixth week of the war, gathering responses from a representative sample of 803 individuals between November 13th and 16th.