Voting philosophies

Strategic voting

Parties need to pass the electoral threshold to make it into the Knesset. With some parties hovering not far above the threshold, voters may “strategically” choose small parties.

On the Right, this would be Habayit Hayehudi, which has yet to pass the threshold in any poll.

On the Jewish-Israeli Left, this would be Meretz or Labor, both of which are not far above the threshold in polls.

Among the Arab parties, both Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am are not far above the threshold. Balad has yet to pass it in polls.

But beware…

Strategic voting for small parties may lead to your vote being wasted. If, for example, Habayit Hayehudi does not pass the threshold, your vote for it will not be counted.

Strategic voting for big parties

For voters who believe that what matters is the largest party, strategic voting means the opposite – voting for the biggest party despite feeling ideologically closer to one of the smaller ones. In this election, that would entail either for the Likud or for Yesh Atid, which appear to be the leading parties by far on each side.

One more caveat

Polls in Israel are notoriously known to get things wrong for a variety of reasons. The outcome may be far different than what your strategic choice was based on. The wisest decision may simply be to vote according to who best represents what is most important to you.