Research

Current Research

Index of Arab-Jewish Relations in Israel

• Public opinion is important in democratic states. Politics and media shape public opinion but are also influenced by them. Activist groups air their views and gain influence, but the voice of the silent majority is not heard. Scientific examination of Arab and Jewish public opinion reveals what the silent majority thinks of the other side and the state. The stand of the silent majority may be different from what is expressed in the media and from what can be learned from common sense and personal experience, and also from the views presented by public figures. The goals of the study of Arab and Jewish public opinion is to know what the Arab and Jewish silent majority thinks of each other and the state. The Index has played a role of a barometer of these attitudes since its launch in 2003. The inquiry of public opinion over the years by the same method and the same questions produces reliable data and uncovers long-term trends of change that occasional public opinion polls are unable to obtain. Hence, the Index of Arab-Jewish relations can shed light on the radicalization thesis versus the rapprochement thesis. The radicalization thesis may receive support from a consistent trend of radicalization of attitudes over the 2003-2017 period and from the comparison of some questions over a longer period, 1976-2017. Measurement of change of attitudes by the Index is more sensitive and reliable than measurement of a violent act because the respondent pays less price in expressing a stand in an anonymous interview than in perpetrating a violent act. The findings of 60 surveys of Arab-Jewish relations that I conducted since 1976 are stored in DataIsrael (see below).

The Model of Ethnic Democracy: A Comparative Study of Israel, Slovakia, Estonia, Macedonia and Northern Ireland

• The goal of this research project is to test and further develop the model of ethnic democracy by applying it to Israel, Slovakia, Estonia, Macedonia and Northern Ireland.

List of Public Opinion Surveys

The following are public opinion surveys that were conducted by Sammy Smooha since 1976. The data of each survey can be viewed and statistically processed in "Data Israel" whose link is dataisrael.idi.org.il. This is a database of surveys of the Guttman Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research in Israel Democracy Institute. Each survey and its questionnaire can be accessed in English and Hebrew (the questionnaire in Arabic in a survey of Arabs is also attached) and the survey data can be downloaded in an Excel or SPSS file.

רשימת סקרי דעת קהל שנערכו

סקרי דעת הקהל המובאים להלן נערכו על-ידי סמי סמוחה מאז 1976. ניתן לצפות ולבצע ניתוחים סטטיסטיים בנתונים של כל סקר באתר "Data Israel" שהקישור אליו הוא dataisrael.idi.org.il. זהו מאגר נתוני הסקרים של מרכז גוטמן לחקר דעת קהל ומדיניות שבמכון הישראלי לדמוקרטיה. ניתן לגשת לכל סקר והשאלון שלו בעברית ובאנגלית (השאלון בערבית בסקרי ערבים גם כן מצורף) ולהוריד את נתוניו בקבצי אקסל או SPSS.