Poll: 76% of Israeli Jews oppose new draft bill
The Knesset approved the new version of the military draft bill, meaning draft equality will not be possible before the year 2023. A majority of the Jewish public opposes the bill, including some right-wing voters.
The Knesset's new bill on the military draft was amended Monday at the request of ultra-Orthodox parties, yet a poll by the Smith Institute showed that 76 percent of the Jewish public opposes the main amendment to the bill, which postpones the drafting of yeshiva students by six years.
A poll commissioned by the Hiddush movement, which advocates religious freedom and equality according to its official website, shows that just 24 percent of the Jewish public supports the amendment. Controlling for the presence of the ultra-Orthodox population in the poll, opposition to the bill is even higher, standing at 82 percent.
Looking at specific populations, it seems that ultra-Orthodox populations tend to support the bill, the non-religious and traditional populations oppose it, and the non-Orthodox religious population is somewhat split – with 53 percent supporting the bill and 47 percent opposed to it.
It also seems that the younger the respondents, the less likely they were to oppose the bill – which might be correlated with the higher birthrate of religious and ultra-Orthodox populations, resulting in their higher proportion among younger Israelis.
It also seems that the voters of parties in the right-wing coalition government, other than the ultra-Orthodox parties, are also opposed to the measure that their representatives are about to implement. 68 percent of Likud voters, 71 percent of Bayit Yehudi voters, and 87 of Kulanu voters are opposed to the bill.
