On March 10 – 2015, a week before election day, JPC hosted pollster Rafi Smith, Partner and Senior Researcher of the Smith Institute. Smith discussed with members of the press about up-to-date information based on current polls and about the various possible outcomes of the 2015 elections. Smith’s main point was that, unlike in the previous elections, there is no guarantee regarding the identity of the next Prime Minister of Israel.
The Chanoch and Rafi Smith – Consulting and Research (the Smith Institute) company was founded in 1972 by the late researcher and statistician Chanoch Smith, who had served as the first scientific director of Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics and had been one of the first researchers of Israel’s elections campaigns.
Since its founding, the Smith Institutehas conducted hundreds of quantitative and qualitative researches for various entities in a wide spectrum of subjects, including politics, social science, commerce, and industry.
The Smith Instituteis known as one of the leading independent research institutions in Israel in the political field, and throughout the years has been involved in virtually all of Israel’s elections campaigns, both nationally and locally. Among its clients were parties such as Likud, Labor, Kadima, Israel Beitenu, National-Religious Party, Meretz, and others, and it was the first to conduct election exit polls for the Israeli media in May 1977.
The Smith Institutehas conducted public opinion surveys for the U.S. Administration, the New Your Times, various Israeli governmental departments (the prime minister’s office, treasury, internal security, education, etc.), and various media outlets (Globes, the Israel Broadcast Authority, the Jerusalem Post, YNET, local radio, etc.).
The Smith Institute’s office is located in Ramat Gan. The office utilizes a computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) technique and a surveying system which is independently-designed. The Smith Institute has another office that specializes in telemarketing and an internet-based system for conducting elections.
The Smith Institute’s staff includes professionals from diverse backgrounds, including market research, statistics, social sciences, behavioral sciences, sociology and psychology.
The Smith Institute has specialized in building research models for representing the Israeli
public on all its layers while using advanced research methods for data analysis.
