Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ehud Barak took a beating yesterday in public opinion polls that underlined his tenuous hold on power as he struggles to pursue peace with the Palestinians.
A survey published in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily newspaper found 63 per cent of 509 people polled by the Dahaf Institute viewed Mr Barak as a bad prime minister. It was his lowest popularity rating since assuming office 13 months ago.
"An overwhelming majority of Israelis are saying Mr Barak has failed as prime minister and has failed in running the country," Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's biggest-selling newspaper, said in an accompanying commentary.
The newspaper noted that no other Israeli prime minister had ever suffered such a swift drop in popularity and that only several months ago, 54 per cent of Israelis said they were satisfied with Mr Barak's performance.
It attributed the drop to "an accumulation of disappointments" and "public opinion that . . . will not forgive arrogance, isolationism and an unwillingness to admit mistakes".
Plagued by coalition defections that have destroyed his governing majority, Mr Barak has 90 days of parliamentary recess to try to kick-start peace negotiations with the Palestinians following the failure of last month's Camp David summit.
Political analysts have predicted that Mr Barak, leader of the One Israel alliance, will have no choice but to go to elections within several months with or without a peace deal on divisive issues such as the future of Jerusalem and a Palestinian state.
A Gallup poll published in the Maariv newspaper yesterday indicated that if elections were held now, Mr Barak would receive 41 per cent of the vote against 35 per cent for Mr Ariel Sharon, leader of the main opposition Likud party.
But both the Gallup survey and Yedioth Ahronoth's Dahaf poll showed former prime minister Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, who gave up the Likud leadership after his 1999 election loss to Mr Barak, could win in a new contest.
Gallup gave Mr Netanyahu 43 per cent of the vote to Mr Barak's 40 per cent. The Dahaf poll put the margin at 46 per cent to 42 per cent.
Both polls showed the number of undecided voters ranged from 12 per cent to 17 per cent.