One peculiarity of Israel’s elections today: Young people, who can be relied upon worldwide to vote to the left, are expected to turn out in large numbers for Israel’s far-right.
A report from Israel’s Channel 12 last month estimated that more than half a million Israelis will be voting for the first time today — a huge demographic that could account for as many as 10 to 12 seats in Israel’s 120 seat legislature.
Some 74% of that cohort classified themselves as right-wing or center-right, according to Channel 12’s survey. That’s a higher proportion than Israel’s voting public as a whole, about 65% of whom classify themselves as right-wing, according to the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI).
That young Israelis are drifting right is in many ways a reflection of how Israeli society differs from other wealthy democracies. Young people in Israel are required to join the military — a group that typically leans right in many countries.
An Israeli woman casts her vote at a polling station in Tel Aviv this morning. Kobi Wolf / Bloomberg via Getty
And first-time voters have come of age after the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks, an event that pushed all of Israeli society to the right.
But a remarkable number of young people are expected to cast ballots for far-right parties whose messaging is overtly Jewish nationalist.
About a third of voters for Otzma Yehudit, or Jewish Power, an ultra-nationalist party led by Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, will be casting ballots for the first time, according to polls by Agam Labs, at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University.