Poll: Optimism rises among Israeli Jews ahead of Rosh Hashanah

Israeli Jews are more optimistic this year than last about their country's future, according to a survey released ahead of Rosh Hashanah. The Jewish People Policy Institute's Israeli Society Index found that 43% of Jewish Israelis believe Israel is improving and will continue to improve, up from 36% last year. Among right-wing respondents, optimism rose to 76%, compared with 68% a year ago. Overall, 35% of Israelis said the country is improving and will get better, while 30% said Israel is declining and the decline will continue. The latter figure fell from 38% last year. The report said, 'the right has become more optimistic about the present, while the center-left has become more optimistic about the future.' Among Arab Israelis, the sentiment was quite different. Only 5% expressed strong optimism, the survey found, while 54% said Israel is declining and will continue to decline — virtually unchanged from last year. Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Newsletter email address Get it By signing up, you agree to the terms Views of the past year were mixed. Economic assessments improved with 30% calling the year bad, down from 35%, while 18% called it good, up from 11%. The social sphere remained the weakest area, with 52% describing the year as bad and only 4% as good. Meanwhile, 49% said the world is declining, virtually unchanged from last year. The survey was conducted in September with 663 Jewish respondents and 206 Arab respondents. Advertisement Political divides persist A separate Israel Democracy Institute poll reported last month found a substantial Jewish-Arab gap when respondents were asked about the future of Israeli democracy. Among Jewish respondents, 43% were optimistic about the future of Israeli democracy, compared with 24.5% of Arab respondents, while the figure across the full sample was 40%. The poll also reflected widespread concern over the country's political climate ahead of the October 27 election. Overall, 70% of Israelis said there was a danger to the integrity of the election, including 72% of Jewish respondents and 58.5% of Arab respondents. Concern crossed political lines, though it was highest on the left, at 90%, compared with 76% in the center and 66% on the right. A July JPPI survey also found a modest continuation of the Jewish Israeli public's rightward shift, with 66% of Jewish respondents identifying as being on the right, up from 63% a year earlier. The share identifying as being on the left fell from 22% to 19%, while 13% placed themselves exactly in the center, up from 10%. Internal divisions remain a leading concern Concerns about the state of Israeli society were also evident in a survey by the Institute for National Security Studies reported by Ynet last month. In a July poll, 39% of respondents identified violent conflict between groups within Israeli society as one of the three greatest threats facing the country over the next five years — tied with Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon. In the same poll, more than half, 54%, assessed a violent internal conflict as likely to occur, while 69% said such a scenario had a high potential to cause serious damage. Sixty-four percent said the state was poorly or very poorly prepared to deal with such an internal confrontation. In a separate Israel Hayom survey, 30% of respondents identified polarization as the issue that worried them most, narrowly ahead of the economic situation at 29%, while security and education were each cited by 18%. Advertisement The same survey found that 41% of respondents favored a unity government, including 48% of Likud voters and 45% of opposition voters. A narrow government of either the right or the left was preferred by 33% of respondents overall. The July JPPI survey found that 13% of respondents ranked unity and reducing internal conflict as their top election priority, while JPPI president Yedidia Stern warned that previous surveys had identified Israel's internal rift as the country's 'most central and dangerous enemy.'