A plurality of the public and an overwhelming majority of Yesh Atid voters want
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to form a coalition without haredi parties
Shas and United Torah Judaism, a Smith Research poll conducted this week
found.
The poll gave four choices of possible coalitions that Netanyahu
could form: One of only right-wing parties, another without Bayit Yehudi, a
third excluding haredi parties and a broad coalition including Bayit Yehudi,
Shas, Yesh Atid, Kadima and the Tzipi Livni Party.
Thirty-eight percent
preferred the coalition excluding haredim, 17% wanted the right-wing option, 15%
the wide coalition and 12% called for excluding Bayit Yehudi. Among those
polled, 18% did not have an opinion.
Among Yesh Atid voters, 68%
preferred a coalition without the haredi parties. Their second choice was a
broad coalition.
Only 1% of Yesh Atid voters wanted their own party to
stay out of the coalition and allow an exclusively right-wing government to be
formed.
Likud Beytenu voters also preferred a coalition excluding Shas
and UTJ, with 34% choosing that option, 17% selecting the broad coalition, and
14% wanting to exclude Bayit Yehudi.
Surprisingly, a right-wing coalition
was the least popular choice among Likud Beytenu voters, with only 11%
preferring that option.
Among supporters of Shas, 52% preferred a
right-wing government without Yesh Atid, 29% wanted to exclude Bayit Yehudi, 10%
called for a broad coalition, and only five percent said they backed a coalition
without their own party.
The poll of 500 respondents representing a
statistical sample of the adult Israeli population was conducted Sunday and
Monday and had a 4.5% margin of error.
On Tuesday, Shas and UTJ MKs met
to coordinate their strategy for coalition talks with Likud Beytenu.
Shas
co-chairman Eli Yishai said following the meeting that he did not believe there
will be a situation in which Shas joins the next government without
UTJ.
UTJ MK Yisrael Eichler’s office said that serious efforts were
underway with Shas “to form a political bloc against the attempts to draft
yeshiva students,” adding that the two parties were also trying to enlist the
support of Bayit Yehudi towards this goal.