Wealthier Israeli Communities Favor Change Bloc, Poorer Favor Netanyahu

As vote counting continues for the 26th Knesset elections, a clear pattern has emerged mirroring previous elections: affluent communities overwhelmingly supported the "change bloc," while areas with lower socioeconomic standing showed increasing support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's camp. This trend is illustrated by the Central Bureau of Statistics' socioeconomic cluster index, which ranks local authorities from 1 to 10 based on residents' economic and social strength.

In the highest socioeconomic clusters (9-10), the change bloc secured 82.7% of votes in Jewish communities, compared to 17.3% for Netanyahu's camp, though these numbers represent a small voter base. Gadi Eisenkot's party garnered 38.1% of the vote in these clusters, followed by the Democrats with 18.2%, and a joint list with 18.1%. The Likud party received only 12.1%.

As the voter base expands into clusters 8-7, the change bloc maintained a majority with 71.7% of votes versus 28.3% for Netanyahu's camp, translating to approximately 461,000 votes for the change bloc against 182,000 for Netanyahu's camp. Eisenkot led with 28.8% support, followed by a joint list with 17% and the Democrats with 15.4%. In Netanyahu's camp, the Likud received 16.3%, and "Religious Zionism-Identity" garnered 4%.

In socioeconomic clusters 6-5, Netanyahu's camp gained a majority for the first time with 51.3% of the vote compared to 48.7% for the change bloc, representing about 415,000 votes for Netanyahu's camp versus 394,000 for the change bloc. The Likud secured around 30% of the votes, while Eisenkot received 18.2%.

The trend reversed dramatically in lower socioeconomic clusters. In clusters 4-3, Netanyahu's camp received 67.1% of votes in Jewish communities (approximately 365,000 votes) compared to 32.9% for the change bloc (about 178,500 votes). In the lowest clusters (2-1), Netanyahu's camp secured 92% of the votes, with the majority going to United Torah Judaism (45.8%) and Shas (22.6%), and the Likud receiving 8.8%. This amounted to roughly 188,000 votes for Netanyahu's camp versus 16,000 for the change bloc.

Including Arab communities significantly increases vote counts in lower clusters. In clusters 2-1, Arab communities shifted the balance, with parties opposing Netanyahu gaining about 102,000 votes, while Netanyahu's camp saw only a few hundred additional votes. In clusters 4-3, including Arab communities, the anti-Netanyahu bloc received around 250,000 votes compared to 366,000 for his camp. The inclusion of Arab communities did not significantly alter the results in higher socioeconomic clusters.