Polls show jump in Likud support among eligible voters from Arab society • Against the background of the Prime Minister's "rapprochement" campaign and MK Abbas' separation from the joint list, the fundamentally wrong assumption that the sector is on the left of the political map should be changed • Interpretation
Yosef Maklada, director general of the Statent polling institute, which reviews trends, processes and patterns in Arab society, presents polls conducted in recent days, which indicate significant changes among Arab voters on the issue of sympathy and support for the USSR and the Likud and right-wing candidate for the next government.
According to polls presented by Maklada, support for the Likud and Netanyahu among potential voters in the Arab sector has jumped sixfold, from 10,000 Likud voters in the last election campaign, to 60,000.
Eligible voters in the Arab sector who responded in a statutory poll conducted after Netanyahu's visit to Umm al-Fahm said they would vote for the Likud and its leader in the upcoming March 2021 elections.
Netanyahu visits Umm al-Fahm, Friday // Photo: GPO
In light of the data emerging in recent polls, which indicate Netanyahu's strengthening in the Arab sector, the question arises: what has changed?
Is this the consequence of Netanyahu's attempts to get closer to the electorate in Arab society, or is the cooperation with Prime Minister Mansour Abbas giving his signals and giving Netanyahu credit points on the Arab street, most of which are not supporters and supporters of the prime minister and the ruling Likud party?
Moreover, while Netanyahu's support rate in the Arab sector shows a positive trend of stability in the increase in sympathy for the prime minister, the joint list, to which 87% of Arab voters in the last election gave their vote, registers a drastic drop to 70% and even declines electorally and loses according to polls 4 to 5 seats, after the amazing achievement in the last election - 15 seats and the third largest faction in the Knesset.
To examine the impact on the Arab public of the political dynamics between the four parties that make up the joint list, the separation of MK Mansour Abbas from the outline of the joint list, which denies cooperation with the prime minister and his people, and Netanyahu's "rapprochement" with the Arab public - Things should be seen not through the narrow and self-interested prism of both sides and their desire to present political, image and electoral achievements, of course.
The basic assumption that the Arab sector is on the left side of the political map is fundamentally wrong.
MK Abbas: "We are not in the pocket of the left" // Photo archive: Channel 20
Indeed, voters in the Arab sector mostly vote for the joint list - but quite a few of those voters openly admit that they voted for the joint list in the absence of a proper political alternative that would represent Arab voters and their desires, and not because of their support for liberal leftist policies.
Arab society in Israel is largely conservative, traditional-religious, and has distinct patriarchal characteristics.
In Arab society there is strong opposition on religious and social grounds to support the LGBT community, opposition to banning conversion therapies, and even a single-parent family unit is not well received in most Arab society, not to mention same-sex families, and more.
The Arab citizen is as far east as the West from liberal arrays with which the Zionist and post-Zionist left identify.
Netanyahu is known for not being afraid to make a U-turn when he has to, and to take a calculated risk that may be to his credit down the road.
If the Prime Minister continues to embrace and respect the Arab public, the results will be reflected in the number of votes the Likud will receive from Arab voters in the upcoming elections.
