Sharon popularity dips to all-time low: poll

AFP, JERUSALEM

Nov 7: Ariel Sharon's popularity further declined to reach its lowest point since he became Israel's prime minister in March 2001, said an opinion poll published Friday by the Maariv daily.

The survey said 57 percent of Israelis were not satisfied with Sharon's performance at the helm of the country, while only 34 percent assessed it positively and nine percent did not voice an opinion.

Last month, Sharon's ratings had already plunged to their lowest point since the start of his second term in office in January 2003, with 54 percent of the population dissatisfied with his performance.

In February 2001, Sharon won a landslide victory in prime ministerial elections against outgoing Labour premier Ehud Barak.

With the intifada already raging, he had pledged security to the Israeli people and despite unrelenting violence, he reiterated his comfortable electoral victory against Labour's Amram Mitzna at the beginning of 2003.

The poll published by Maariv Friday was carried out on a sample of 893 Israelis and has a margin of error of 3.2 percent