Asked if they were satisfied with Olmert's performance as prime minister, about 68 percent of respondents said no, according to a poll published in the Ha'aretz daily - an increase of 28 percentage points since an August 11 survey.
Only 22 percent of Israelis said that they were satisfied with Olmert, compared with 48 percent who approved of his performance in the August poll, published shortly before a UN-brokered truce ended the month-long war against Hezbollah.
Olmert and his government, along with the military leadership, have faced intense criticism over the 34-day war, which failed to achieve its main objectives of retrieving two soldiers seized by the Shiite militia or stopping the guerrillas from launching rockets at the Jewish state.
The Israeli premier remained defiant, however, telling the Ma'ariv daily that the Jewish state had won the war that ended with a ceasefire August 14.
"I have no doubt that we won the war," he said in the interview, excerpts of which were published Thursday.
In a separate interview with Yedioth Ahronoth, Olmert dismissed criticism of his leadership during the offensive, saying that he was satisfied with his own performance.
"I did not feel that I had to deal with decisions that I was incapable of handling," he said.
Critics say that Olmert and his government rushed into the war without sufficiently considering the consequences and failing to provide adequate support for the population in the north, which bore the brunt of more than 4,000 rockets that Hezbollah lobbed at Israel during the offensive.
A total of 162 Israelis, most of them soldiers, were killed, while the death toll in Lebanon topped 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
Israel's military leadership stands accused of relying too much on air power at the beginning of the war, confused orders, and lack of proper equipment and food.
The Lebanon offensive has left Olmert grasping for a platform for his fragile coalition government, as the main issue on which he led his Kadima party to a narrow victory in a March election poll - unilaterally withdrawing from the West Bank - has now been discarded.
In the surveys released Thursday, the ratings of Kadima and its main coalition partner, the Labor party, also took a dive, while those of the rightwing opposition rose.
If parliamentary elections were to be held today, Kadima would get 16 seats, compared with 29 now, and Labor would get 15 seats against 19 currently, according to the Ha'aretz poll.
The opposition rightwing Likud party would double its parliamentary seats to 24, while the extreme right Israel Beitenu party would get 18 seats, up from 11 now, the poll said.
"The polls reflect a certain bitterness from the population after the Lebanon war," interior minister Ronni Ba-On, a close ally of Olmert, told public radio.
"I am not worried, we have a lot of work and a lot of time to reverse the tendency," he said. "We can't forget that the next elections won't take place for at least four years.
Olmert told Ma'ariv that he would seek to expand his 67-member coalition in the 120-seat Knesset to include either Likud or Israel Beitenu.
© 2006 Agence France-Presse
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