Sharon's popularity down
Israel, Politics, 3/9/2002

Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon's popularity has dropped sharply, with 76 per cent that would not give him a "pass" for his handling of Israel's security problems, a poll published Friday in the Israeli Yediot Ahronot daily showed.

A majority (53 percent) said they had no confidence in Sharon, although 45 per cent said they still had. Sharon's popularity has fallen by 19 per cent since January, when 64 per cent said they supported him and by 9 percent two weeks ago, when 54 per cent said he had their support, said the DPA.

A majority of 72 percent of Israelis said Sharon had not lived up to their expectations one year and a day after being sworn in. Sharon, of the hard-line Likud party, had promised the Israelis to bring them security.

Instead, Israel has seen a 337-percent rise in militant attacks in 2001, according to police figures, while the ongoing. Israeli-Palestinian violence has escalated to new heights, since it erupted 17 months ago.

"The violence has also badly affected the Israeli economy and 92 percent of Israelis polled said they gave Sharon's government a bad grade for its handling of economic problems," the daily said.

With 36 percent supporting them, Defence Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres of the dovish Labour Party, did even worse.

Yediot did not give the number of Israelis polled this week. In previous weeks, some 500 Israeli adults were interviewed. Yediot-Dahaf Institute polls normally have a margin of error of 4.5 percent.

Previous Stories:
  Israeli bomb lands near UN-run schools in Gaza, drawing new UN protest   (3/8/2002)
  Israeli gunfire kills UN security guard riding in ambulance in West Bank   (3/8/2002)
  A Jewish billionaire and the Saudi initiative   (3/8/2002)

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