A poll conducted among the dati leumi community shows a number of things about the mood in the sector, after the crash in representation, with Bennet’s abandonment of Bayit Yehudi – The result shows that a clear majority is interested in seeing Ayelet Shaked lead the religious Zionist camp despite being secular – 76% believe that Bibi is contemptuous of his coalition partners from the dati leumi community

It was back in the glorious days, when Naftali Bennet and Ayelet Shaked ran together, heading the Bayit Leumi party in the 2013 elections. Bennet was a political meteorologist and Ayelet Shaked was yet to prove her skills, and she began as a regular MK. Bennet marched the party forward and produced an unprecedented achievement of 12 seats. In the elections of 2015, the party dropped down to eight seats after the electioneering of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, whose Likud party pulled many dati leumi voters.

In the last elections, on April 9, 2019, Bennet and Shaked abandoned ship to announce the launch of their New Right party, which failed to meet the minimum election threshold to enter Knesset. As a result, the Bayit Yehudi, Ichud Leumi and Otzma Yehudit party joined together to form a technical bloc, but they only earned five seats and it was clear, the dati leumi tzibur had been fractionalized. The failed effort by Bennet and Shaked translated into stealing almost four seats from the dati leumi party known as the URWP (United Right-Wing Party), as they missed entering Knesset by some 1200 votes.

Now, after PM Netanyahu dissolved the Knesset, the dati leumi tzibur has been given a second chance.

Who should lead the dati leumi camp?
40% Shaked
19% Bennet
15.1% Betzalel Smotrich
14.8% Rabbi Rafi Peretz
2.6% Itamar Ben-Gvir
1% Moshe Feiglin

Who in the dati leumi did you vote for in the last election?
42.7% New Right (Bennet & Shaked)
41.5% URWP
6.8% Likud
3.9% Zehut (Feiglin)
1.9% another party
1.8% Blue and White
0.7% Gesher (Orly Abekasis Levi)
0.5% Kulanu
0.2% Shas

Would you now change your vote?
76.7% do not regret their vote
14.9% regret their vote
8.4% do not know

The Makor Rishon poll also probed the option of all right-wing parties running independently and there is no minimum election threshold.
43.4% New Right
22.8% Bayit Yehudi
11.7% Ichud Leumi/Tekuma
6.8% Otzma Yehudit
6% Likud
3.95 Zehut
3.4% other right-wing parties
2% Blue and White

How does PM Netanyahu treat his dati leumi coalition partners compared to other coalition partners?
62.9% Netanyahu is more contemptuous of the dati leumi parties
18% treated the same as other coalition partners
9% he prefers them over them the others
10.1% do not have an opinion

57.7% of the respondents wish to see one united religious party running for Knesset as compared to 17.1% who wish to see a united situation, but not including Zehut or Otzma Yehudit. 14.1% are interested in seeing two united lists, with one being URWP and the second made up of the New Right and Zehut combined. 6.3% are interested in seeing all the parties united together with the exclusion of Otzma Yehudit, which they view as “too extreme”.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)