The Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research at Tel Aviv University just released its Peace Index for Feb. 2008. Among the key findings:
Only a small minority of the entire Israeli public (17%) is satisfied with the results of the recent elections (43% are dissatisfied, 35% are in between, and the rest do not know). Yet close to 90% of all those who voted would vote again for the same party even if they knew the election results from the start. That is, their perception is that it’s the other voters, not themselves, who erred.
Among those who did not vote but, in light of the results, would do so if given another opportunity (16%, with the overwhelming majority, 69%, saying they would not vote even if given a further chance to do so), 30% would opt for Kadima and 27% for Likud, with the rest of the parties receiving only a few percentage points. In other words, if the nonvoters went to the booths, Kadima would keep its small lead over Likud. In the court of public opinion, the two prime-ministerial candidates are in a very close race: 37.5% prefer Livni, 37.6% favor Netanyahu. Taking the sampling error into account, the meaning of these results from a statistical standpoint is a tie between the two.
/cijainfo
@CIJAinfo