The Sept. 17 election left the Israeli public both fractured and confused.
While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been tapped to form the next government, a third election remains a very real possibility. On Friday, negotiations teams from the Blue and White and Likud parties were scheduled to hold another meeting on forming a unity government, which Netanyahu wants, despite reservations on the part of Blue and White.
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However, there are other options, such as a unity government that would not include the haredi parties and the small right-wing parties; a narrow right-wing government that would include parties from the Left; or a left-wing government that would partner with some right-wing parties.
A new poll by Israel Hayom tried to identify which government the public prefers. The poll was conducted by the Maagar Mohot Institute and included 502 adult respondents who comprised a representative sample of the adult Israeli population. The margin of error was 4.4%.
This is what the numbers told us: 29% prefer the government model to which Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman and Blue and White aspire to form: a unity government made up of the Likud, Blue and White, and Yisrael Beytenu.
Another 25% said they wanted a broad unity government that would include smaller parties from both the Left and the Right, while 23% preferred to forgo a partnership with Blue and White, even if that meant a narrow right-wing government made up of the Likud and its natural partners. Only 9% wanted to see a center-left government that included haredim. An additional 14% responded that they did not know or gave other answers.
When asked who they thought should serve as prime minister first if a rotation agreement were reached, 44% opted for Netanyahu, compared to 40% who thought Blue and White leader Benny Gantz should go first. Sixteen percent said they did not know who should go first in a rotating premiership.
Earlier this week, the chairman of the haredi United Torah Judaism party, Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman, repeated that UTJ would not join a government that included Yesh Atid leader and No. 2 on the Blue and White list Yair Lapid.
The Israel Hayom poll asked respondents to what degree they agreed with UTJ's position: 42% said the party was wrong to refuse to join a government with Lapid, while 34% said it was right to do so. Among UTJ voters, 81% agreed with Litzman's position.
The "boycott" goes both ways. After the election, Lieberman announced that Yisrael Beytenu would not join a government with "haredim, messianic Jews, the Democratic Union, or the Arab parties." The poll tried to measure how much of the public identified with that sentiment and found that 52% did not support Lieberman's position while 30% did. More than three-quarters (79%) of Yisrael Beytenu voters supported Lieberman's refusal to sit with representatives of those factions.
When asked if, in a scenario in which both Netanyahu and Gantz fail to form a government, the country should hold a third election, 60% responded no, while 26% said yes.
However, there was stronger support for a third election among supporters of United Torah Judaism (50% of whom would be in favor); Otzma Yehudit (45%); and the Joint Arab List (35%). Opposition to a third election was strongest among Blue and White voters, with 80% of the list's supporters against a third election.
