public opinion polls

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the Globes business newspaper conference, at the Jerusalem Convention Center, on December 19, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

How to read election polls, explained by an expert

When should you be suspicious of poll results? Can election polls really influence voter behavior? Do people lie to pollsters? Public opinion expert Dahlia Scheindlin has the answers. Public opinion polls get things wrong, and not only in Israel. They failed to predict the 2016 American presidential election, Brexit, the U.K. elections in 2015, and…

By Dahlia Scheindlin March 8, 2019

File photo of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Education Minister Naftali Bennett. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The right keeps winning in Israel because Israelis are right wing

The political map in Israel hasn’t fundamentally changed since a decade ago, when left-wing voters migrated to the center and centrist voters moved right. The last week has seen feverish speculation about the possibility of early elections in Israel, primarily against the backdrop of infighting about how to handle Gaza. Defense Minister Liberman resigned and…

By Dahlia Scheindlin November 19, 2018

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a press conference about Iran's nuclear program, April 30, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Out of Iran deal, into war? Either way, Netanyahu’s popularity soars

Netanyahu appears to have inoculated himself against looming corruption charges due to the dramatic developments on the security front. As war with Iran looms, why does the old formula work so well? On Wednesday night, the day after Trump announced his withdrawal from the Iran deal, in between Israeli airstrikes in Syria, Israel’s Channel 2…

By Dahlia Scheindlin May 10, 2018

Latest

Construction takes place in the West Bank settlement of Ariel, January 25, 2017. (Sebi Berens/Flash90).

As two-state solution appears less likely, support for it keeps dropping

A new poll of Palestinians and Israelis finds that with symbolic incentives, a majority on both sides can be convinced to support a two-state solution. But time is only eroding support for two states across the Green Line. For years, a majority of both Israelis and Palestinians supported a two-state solution in principle. After years…

By Dahlia Scheindlin August 3, 2017

File photo of a Palestinian woman voting in Bethlehem. (Photo by Activestills.org)

‘Apartheid polls’: When some opinions just matter less

Preventing non-Jews from expressing their political beliefs on a range of issues is more than just a slippery slope — it’s another step toward an apartheid regime. By Oren Persico In a famous 1972 speech, French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu dedicated a moment to public opinion polls. Bourdieu didn’t focus on the issues most people associate with…

By The Seventh Eye February 17, 2015