Religious zionism and the national religious party in the 2003 elections: An attempt to respond to the challenges of religious, ethnic, and political schism

This chapter analyzes voting patterns of the religious Zionist public in two inter-related and inter-connected circles. One circle will deal with an analysis of the breakdown of votes and voting patterns for the National Religious Party (NRP), which has the support of about half of the religious Zionist public. The other circle will examine the breakdown of votes and voting patterns of religious Zionists for other parties which are the NRP's main rivals for the same potential group of voters. The chapter focuses on three fault lines crossing the religious Zionist camp: political, ethnic, and religious. These three fault lines explain the fact that about half of the religious Zionists vote for other parties, and the difficulty of the NRP in recreating its achievements of the past. The wide variety among religious Zionists in general, and especially among NRP voters, presents the party with electoral and political challenges that are difficult and complex, and may even be insoluble.