A new poll conducted by the Guttman Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research shows that 76% of the Israeli public fears that they or a close relative will be infected with the coronavirus.
This represents a significant leap over a previous poll taken last month, which showed that only 34% of Israelis feared that they or their close family would become infected.
A large majority in the public is worried about their economic future (73.5%) as much of the country is shut down. This concern is higher in the Arab public than in the Jewish public (79% versus 72%).
The vast majority of those who are very worried about the infection of the coronavirus (90.5%) are also afraid of their economic future, compared to less than a third (31%) of those who are not at all afraid of being infected and who are afraid for their economic future.
Health Ministry director Moshe Bar Siman Tov received the highest rating of any public official for his response to the coronavirus crisis. 68% of Israelis rate his performance as good. Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, by contrast received only 40% approval for his performance.
60% of Israelis approve of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's handling of the crisis, compared to 34% for Israeli Resilience leader Benny Gantz and just 18% for Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid.
83% of the Israeli public believe that hospitals' performance is very good or quite good, 58.5% are satisfied with the functioning of the media, and only 39% are satisfied with the way the Finance Ministry has performed.
59% of Israelis trust the Shin Bet and government officials to use data from the surveillance of cell phones responsibly and solely to contain the spread of the virus. Among Arab citizens, only 38% trust that this data will be used responsibly, compared to 63% of Jews. Among Jews, most right-wing and centrist voters trust the Shin Bet and government in this case (68% and (60%0 compared to just 45.5% of left-wing voters.
The majority of the public (53%) believes that the restrictions set by the Israeli government on the conduct of the public to prevent the spread of the coronavirus are appropriate. 36% think the restrictions are not stringent enough and should be strengthened. Only a tiny minority think the restrictions are too severe (7%). 50% of the Arab public thinks that the restrictions are not strict enough, compared to 34% of the Jews.
57% of Israelis support the establishment of a unity government with a rotation for prime minister. 36% would like to see Netanyahu first as prime minister, and 21% would prefer Gantz to be the first. Only 13.5% would like to see a minority government of right-wing parties led by Netanyahu, and 13% would prefer a minority government of the center-left parties led by Benny Gantz.