Religious freedom important in next election for 63% of Jewish voters - survey
According to the survey by the Hiddush religious pluralism organization, if Blue and White increased its commitment in this field, it would gain votes.
By ROSSELLA TERCATINHAREDIM WALK in Jerusalem in front of a ‘Men Only’ sign – the role of religion in public life will likely increase due to demographic trends and the high birth rate in the haredi and national-religious sectors.(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Religious freedom and equality are considered important issues in the next election by 63% of the Jewish voters, a survey by the Hiddush religious pluralism organization published on Wednesday found.Moreover, according to the survey, if the Blue and White Party were to increase its commitment in this field, it would gain votes.The study was conducted on behalf of Hiddush by the Smith Institute via phone on December 24 and 25, interviewing 500 people as a representative sample of the adult Jewish population in Israel.Overall, 63% said it was important to them that “the next government coalition will commit to the principles of religious freedom and burden of equality, including civil marriage and divorce, public transportation on Saturday and recruiting yeshiva students for military or civil service.” Among the respondents, 38% described it as very important, and 25% as quite important, while 20% said that it did not matter, and 17% stated that they disagreed with promoting these values.Asked if Blue and White were to show a clear commitment to this issue, that would increase or decrease the chances that they would vote for it, 35% of respondents said they would more likely vote for it, compared to 16% who stated that the chances would diminish, and 49% who said that the issue would not affect their voting.“The public expects a revolution in the relations between religion and state relations in Israel following the elections and will strengthen the power of the parties that will commit to realizing the values of religious freedom and equality,” Hiddush head Rabbi Uri Regev said in a statement.“The public response is consistent and unequivocal,” he added.The survey further revealed that the issues related to freedom of religion are important to about 90% of the voters of Blue and White and Yisrael Beytenu, and almost half of Likud voters.
