Dramatic changes to Israel’s political landscape have left up to half of voters undecided on who to vote in the April 9 election, a survey has found.
The Israel Democracy Institute survey said an overwhelming share of voters who traditionally supported centrist parties were struggling to make up their minds.
Over three-quarters of potential Kulanu voters and 68 per cent of possible voters for Gesher said they were finding it difficult to decide who to vote for.
Both centrist parties are at risk of falling short of Israel’s 3.25 per cent election threshold and not electing any MKs to the Knesset at all, leading their supporters to consider voting for larger parties.
Their concerns was shared by supporters of the right-wing Jewish Home party, which has taken a turn to the far-right since leader Naftali Bennett’s resignation late last year and the faction’s subsequent alliance with the Kahanist Jewish Power party.
Overall, half of Israeli voters said they agreed with the statement: “Because of the many changes that have recently occurred in the party map, it is harder for me than in the past to decide which party to vote for”.
45 per cent of Israeli Arabs surveyed also said they were having greater difficulty deciding who to vote for than in the past.
The Joint List of Israeli Arab parties, which came third in the last election, disbanded earlier this year, leaving two smaller coalitions to choose from.
Recent Israeli opinion polls have broadly shown Benny Gantz’s Blue & White alliance leading Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud, although it remains unclear which leader will be in a better position to form a coalition government after the election.
