Thursday, May 26, 2011

Conflicting Data

Reading about a Kadima voter who was exceptionally pleased with Bibi's speech to Congress, I was demoralized but counseled myself with "the plural of anecdote is not data." Unfortunately, new polls in Israel show Bibi's support soaring, with his approvals at 51% (they were, uh, pretty bad before).

On the other hand, a different poll found that 57% of Israelis believing that Israel should have supported President Obama's initiative. I'm not sure how to reconcile these two data points. The best answer I can give is that Bibi locked down his right flank. Except for the radical wings of the settler movement, for whom even contemplating a Palestinian state is heresy, there was little in what Netanyahu said that wouldn't be very appealing to, say, a Yisrael Beiteinu voter.

Still -- these numbers in tandem are very strange.

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