A new survey published by Prof. Avi Degani, founder and President of the Geocartography opinion and marketing institute, points to a sharp, 25% drop in the Israeli public’s trust, Jews and Arabs alike, in the Supreme Court. Only 22% of Israeli Jews expressed their complete faith in the court.
A similar survey that was done in 1991, 25 years ago, showed that 80% of the Israeli public, including Arabs, had a high or complete trust in the Supreme Court, compared with only 56% today. 12% of the Jews say have no trust whatsoever in the court, as opposed to only 3% that held the same view in 1991.
41% of Israelis had complete faith in the Supreme Court in 1991 – today it’s down to 22%.
Another institution that has suffered a severe loss of prestige is the State Auditor. In 1991, 80% had complete or high trust in this institution – today only 55% do. In the Arab sector, the drop was from 57% in 1991 to only 47% today.
The Knesset has maintained most of its status, but that’s only because it was very low 25 years ago – 27%. Today it’s down to 23%.
Prof. Degani cautioned that the fate of democracy is uncertain when the two branches of government whose job it is to restrain the executive branch are being held in such low regard by the public.