Poll shows new generation of Israeli voters more right-wing

A new poll has revealed a significant rightward shift among Israel’s youngest voters, reinforcing concerns that the country’s political trajectory is becoming increasingly hardline.

According to a survey conducted by the Midgam research institute for Israel’s N12 news site, 75 per cent of first-time voters identify as right-wing. Among veteran voters, the figure stands at 68 per cent — a seven-point gap that analysts say could have long-term political consequences in a country where electoral margins are often razor-thin.

The findings challenge a long-held assumption among Israel’s liberal establishment that younger generations would gravitate towards the political centre or Left. Instead, the data suggests that the newest cohort entering the electorate is more nationalist, more religiously traditional and more sceptical of liberal institutions than the generation it is replacing.

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The poll also points to a rise in religious observance among younger voters. Eighty per cent of new voters say they believe in God or a higher power, compared with 75 per cent of veteran voters. Forty-three per cent of first-time voters say they kiss the mezuzah, compared with 33 per cent of older voters. More than half of both groups say they believe in the coming of the Messiah.

On key political questions, younger voters appear more hawkish. Nearly half of first-time voters — 46 per cent — believe there was “betrayal from within” in relation to the 7 October attack, compared with 37 per cent of veteran voters. Forty-nine per cent of new voters accept Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that the corruption cases against him are politically motivated, while 36 per cent reject that assertion.

Support for a state commission of inquiry into the events of 7 October is also lower among new voters than among veterans, and their voting preferences skew heavily towards right-wing parties, including Likud and religious factions.

The data comes amid heightened political controversy over expansionist rhetoric from senior Israeli and US figures. US Ambassador Mike Huckabee recently sparked regional condemnation after saying in an interview that “it would be fine if they took it all” when asked whether Israel had a biblical right to territory stretching from the Euphrates to the Nile.

While pro-Israel commentators initially dismissed Huckabee’s remarks as fringe, Israel’s opposition leader Yair Lapid subsequently voiced support for expansive territorial claims rooted in “biblical borders,” stating that Zionism is based on the Bible and that the “biblical borders of the land of Israel are clear.”

The convergence of these statements with polling data showing a more religious and right-leaning younger electorate suggests that expansionist and maximalist narratives may be gaining broader legitimacy within Israeli political discourse.