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Abstract:
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This study is one in a series of election studies conducted since 1969, investigating voting patterns, public opinion, and political participation in Israel. In this study, respondents gave their opinions on the general situation in Israel, current national issues, the main problem the Israeli government had to deal with, and the personal security situation as compared to the pre-peace process period. Respondents also indicated their level of support for the Israeli concessions proposed in United States President Bill Clinton's Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. Views were also elicited on the Palestinian peace agreement to end the Arab-Israeli conflict, government encouragement of Arab emigration, the return of areas of the Golan Heights to Syria for peace, evaluation of Arab aspirations, and reasons for supporting or not supporting the peace agreement. Respondents answered a set of questions regarding their extent of support for the Labour Party, Ariel Sharon, the Likud Party, Orthodox Jews, Yasir Arafat, Ehud Barak, Benjamin Netanyahu, Shimon Peres, Aryeh Deri, and Arabs. They also gave their views on issues such as Jerusalem, terrorism, the economy, economic issues, foreign security issues, and the agreement with the Palestinians, and how these issues could affect voting for prime minister. Those queried answered a series of questions regarding how frequently they read daily newspapers and watched TV news, whether they followed election polls, how much faith they had in election polls, and the influence of election ads on their voting decisions. The survey also elicited respondents' accounts of their vote in the 1999 elections for prime minister and the Knesset. Background information includes respondents' political party, religion, self-definition of identity, birthplace, education, monthly family expenditure, gender, and age.
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