The Israel Democracy Index (IDI) released the results of its Israeli Voice Index on Tuesday.
Israeli optimism about the future generally rose across the board. Optimism about the future of national security was at its highest since September 2022, with 46.5% being optimistic, while optimism about the future of democratic rule was the highest it has been since November 2022, with both being 46%.
Optimism about the future of the two topics has been trending closer and closer, with the trend beginning sometime in early 2023. Since then, the two ratings have been extremely close with no more than a 3 percentage point difference between the two from June 2023 and no more than a percentage point difference between the two since August 2023.
Since the October 7 attack, optimism has been rising across the board with Jews and Arabs both becoming increasingly optimistic about the future compared to September 2023.
The Israeli public, across the board, supported the hostage deal, with support for the deal in the majority across almost all sectors. Only two groups did not show majority support for the deal: the National Religious/National Haredi sector, which supported the deal at a rate of 41%, and the party Religious Zionism at a rate of 39%. There is a large overlap in the two groups likely explaining this result.
Jews are largely supportive of a resumption of fighting in Gaza regardless of their political orientation (Left: 74%, Center: 84%, Right: 93%), while only a fifth of Arabs supported a resumption of fighting, at 20.5%.
Increasing women’s role in combat
Just over half of the public (51%) support increasing women’s ability to serve in combat positions, with religiousness being the deciding factor in support.
President Biden stated that American support for Israel is contingent on Israel pursuing a two-state solution. The IDI asked the participants whether they believe that Israel should pursue the solution in order to continue receiving American assistance. Jews disagreed at 52% and agreed at 35%, while Arabs disagreed at 27% and agreed at 55%.
Jews largely believe the country will be more united after the war with 61% saying more united and 17% more divided, while Arabs were more split, with 31% saying more united and 43.5% saying more divided.
Israelis across the board believe that mass civil protests demanding that those responsible for the failures of October 7 are held to account will begin after the war is over, with majorities in all sectors (total sample: 72%, Jews: 73%, Arabs: 64%; Left: 86%, Center: 69%, Right: 74%).
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