An internal poll conducted by the Rafi Smith Institute shows that the majority of haredim do not want the United Torah Judaism party to split ahead of the upcoming elections.
United Torah Judaism is the Knesset's Ashkenazic haredi party, and is compromised of two factions: the hasidic Agudat Yisrael and the Lithuanian-haredi Degel Hatorah.
Recently, there have been disagreements between the two factions, and the option of running separately has been raised more than once.
But according to the new poll, published on Kikar Hashabbat, a majority of haredim fear that a separate runs may reduce the party's power, and some fear that one of the parties will not pass the electoral threshold.
Participants responded to the question, "In your opinion, would a separation of the two haredi parties in the Knesset elections, so that Agudat Yisrael runs separately from Degel Hatorah, cause the haredi sector's political power to diminish, and possibly one of the parties not to get into the Knesset?"
The results showed that 55% of respondents fear that a split will cause "political damage," while 31% said they believe it will reduce the sector's power, and 24% said that one of the parties will not pass the electoral threshold.
Split by sector, 46% of Lithuanian haredim fear negative consequences, while 23% said they believe the split will be positive, 12% said they do not believe it will have an effect, and 16% said they have no opinion.
Among hasidim, 55% said the split will have negative consequences, while 19% said the effect would be positive, 14% said there would be no effect, and 12% had no opinion.