‘Post’ poll: Public wants coalition without haredim

38% prefer coalition without haredi parties; UTJ, Shas meet to discuss "political bloc" against ultra-Orthodox enlistment.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN, JEREMY SHARON
Eli Yishai, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Arye Deri 521 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Eli Yishai, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Arye Deri 521
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
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.