Ideological Cleavages in Israeli Public Opinion in the 2022 Elections

What were the main ideological cleavages among Jewish voters in Israel's 2022 elections? The recent political tensions led many to underscore the deep polarization in Israeli society, yet others argue that most Israelis agree on most issues. Do such agreements exist in reality? The chapter addresses this question by analyzing Jewish-Israeli attitudes in INES surveys in 2013–2022. We find broad agreement on social-civic issues like economic structure and civil marriage. However, the ideological cleavage surrounding the Israeli–Palestinian conflict remains deep and entrenched and aligns with accepted partisan divisions between right, center and left. We also observe two other meaningful cleavages: the role of religion in public life and the Supreme Court's powers, which divide voters of the religious parties and voters of the former “Change Coalition,” with Likud voters in between. These contested issues, furthermore, predict voting in 2022 better than civic matters. Survey data from the preceding decade shows that while the cleavages on these issues are deep, they remain stable and do not indicate widening ideological polarization. The chapter, therefore, sketches the current map of agreement lines among Jewish-Israeli voters and contributes to our understanding of public opinion, Israel's ideological cleavages and their influence on the 2022 elections.