While the US election results weren't sensational, American and global media reported them dramatically, as if they were a complete against-all-odds surprise victory. One explanation is that Trump is widely perceived as anti-establishment, a fringe figure who penetrated American political institutions, despite having served as president and being a central political player for at least a decade. Moreover, most mainstream American media outlets supported Harris, so despite the steady tie in polls, most election coverage included an implicit assumption that Harris would win.

Nevertheless, the election results were surprising in two key aspects: First, the sweeping quantitative victory that even the greatest Republican optimists hadn't imagined pre-election, across all parameters – electoral votes, total voters, and number of states won, including in swing states. But Trump also surprised in a more substantial way – the significant increase in both number and percentage of voters from what are called "sectors," except for African American women, who remained loyal to the Democratic candidate.

The Republican victory demonstrates that despite American society being divided among different groups, populations, and cultures – above all, Americans want to be simply Americans. During the campaign, Trump succeeded in addressing Americans as citizens belonging to the American nation, regardless of their origin, gender, religion, or skin color. This stood in stark contrast to Harris, who nurtured identity-based discourse among different groups in an attempt to address the needs, desires, and worldviews of each group separately, even though a significant portion of the issues at the center of public discussion are disputed among these groups themselves.

The divisive political discourse has flourished in recent decades in Israel too, with the perpetuation of class, cultural, and geographic distinctions becoming the bread and butter of candidates and campaign strategists' playbooks. Israel is rich with immigrants and children of immigrants from various countries and cultures, a fact that deepens the sectorial, fragmented aspect of the political system.

Journalists, politicians, celebrities, academics, and opinion leaders from all groups do everything to contribute to shaping Israeli society as a mosaic, composed of different ethnic and cultural groups. The political results of identity discourse are the increased power of parties built on ethnic or class identity, difficulty in seeing national interests, tribal judgment of every national move, and primarily – the emptying of public discourse from pan-Israeli issues.

Thus, derogatory labels for working-class conservatives on one side, and elitist liberals on the other, became objects of ridicule by the opposing camp, until they penetrated deep into the DNA of Israel's political system. In the name of identity politics, discourse became shallow and separatist – as often reflected in media interviews, Knesset discussions, speeches, and various declarations during routine days, and during campaigns through Ayalon Highway billboards depicting "Us or Them," accompanied by threatening photographs of "Them" representatives.

Identity politics has become established in Israeli society and brought many achievements for some political and social players. It seems that in Israel too, the time has come to abandon ethnic and sectorial thinking and return to pan-Israeli identity. The political body that manages to do this will amass considerable political power and will be able to reshape Israeli politics for generations.

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A new poll carried out by the Miskar Research and Polling Institute points to deep-seated trends in the voting patterns of Israel's national-religious sector.

Just 13.2% of national-religious voters said they intend to vote for Habayit Hayehudi under its current leadership in the next election, and just 38.9% would consider voting for it under different leadership. From a practical political perspective, then, Habayit Hayehudi is in the process of being wiped off the political map. From a socio-political perspective, it seems the national-religious sector has given up on what should have been its political home.

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While political leadership and processes promoted by specific parties must not be ignored, it appears the political process underway is the result of deeper internal developments that have led to the dissolution of the national-religious sectors' political center of gravity. As a result, at a time when no specific party stands out, religious voters are free to choose the niche party of their choosing.

Yet despite this newfound freedom, the survey found national-religious voters were mostly planning to vote for right-wing parties. Less than 10% of respondents said they planned to vote for either left-wing, centrist, or Haredi parties. The tendency to vote right-wing isn't new, but the current data indicates a halt in the trend that had developed over the last three election campaigns that saw relatively widespread voting for parties that weren't explicitly right-wing. This trend may stem from the fact that in the next election, a variety of figures from the national-religious sector are set to run with the Right.

The final trend apparent in the survey's findings is a desire to unite the right-wing political map. The central player here is Yamina, which garnered the most support among respondents.

A more in-depth analysis shows parties that bolster their religious identity by, for example, joining forces with parties associated with the national-religious sector would see a significant increase in support. While joining up with a non-religious right-wing party like Gideon Sa'ar's New Hope could increase support for the larger party, on its own, New Hope does not earn significant support among members of the national-religious sector.

National-religious support for such a broad political party surpasses even support for all of the parties that comprise the national-religious political puzzle. We can therefore conclude that this sector's voters no longer demand a national-religious home party, but rather a larger right-wing party with national-religious elements.

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The post Political shakeup does not bode well for national-religious base appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.