The Israel National Election Studies (INES) began in 1969. We investigate voting patterns, public opinion, and political participation in Israel. Each election study addresses a wide range of substantive themes, including expectations about the election outcome; perceptions and evaluations of the major parties and candidates; information about politics; partisanship; assessments of the relative importance of major problems facing the country; attention to campaign coverage in the mass media (in recent studies); political efficacy; political values; left vs. right positions; trust in government; political participation; vote choice past and present; economic well-being; policy positions on the Arab-Israeli conflict, social welfare, state and religion, economic, social, and civil rights issues; evaluations of political figures and groups; measures of religious affiliation and religiosity; and detailed demographic information.
Each INES cycle comprises two elements: first, at least one pre-election survey based on a representative national sample, and, second, an edited volume of research essays analyzing major aspects of the election. All surveys are conducted prior to the Knesset elections and, in relevant years, the direct Prime Ministerial elections (1996, 1999, and 2001). In certain years, more than one pre-election survey was conducted. Since 2006, and in certain earlier years (1973, 1988, and 1999), the study includes a panel design with both pre- and post-election surveys.
These data sets serve the research needs of social scientists, teachers, and students concerned with theoretical and empirical aspects of mass politics in Israel. Several questions repeat across multiple surveys, providing unique longitudinal data on public opinion trends and political behavior in Israel.
Over the years, the INES received generous and continuous support from the Israel Democracy Institute and the Pinhas Sapir Center for Development of Tel-Aviv University. The Israel Science Foundation supported the 2013 INES study through a personal grant to Michal Shamir and the five elections between 2019 and 2022 as part of the Center of Excellence "Looking beyond the Crisis of Democracy: Patterns of Representation in Israeli Elections". Tel Aviv University funded the INES 2015 survey, with complementary contribution by Yad Hanadiv. In 2019, support was given by the Presidents of the three Universities participating in the Center of Excellence, Tel-Aviv University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the University of Haifa. Tel-Aviv University contributed to the funding of the 2021 and 2022 election studies. The financial support of the Alvin Z. Rubinstein Chair in Political Science at Tel Aviv University for the construction and maintenance of the INES website is also acknowledged, as is the assistance of Natalia Volchkina from the Israel Social Sciences Data Center (ISDC) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Stephanie Wang, Yasmin Alkalay Z”L, Adi Livny, Orit Viks, Yael Hadar, Nir Atmor, Shirah Bergman, Einat Gedalya-Lavy, Nechama Horwitz, Daniel Zucker, Clareta Treger, Naama Rivlin-Angert, Rotem Rozenblum, Priya Tuch-Deva, and Amiad Savir, our first webmaster.
The INES logo is based on a drawing of the Knesset building by Amnon Lahad, age 11, in 1971
