In the upcoming days, Israelis will probably be barraged with divisive campaign rhetoric, which our research suggests increases partisan polarization. However, if the election delivers another divided result, right- and left-wing politicians may wish to overcome the deadlock and form a unity government. Doing so, politicians may be able to mitigate some of the animosity caused by recurring exposure to electoral competition over the past year. But the tone of the campaign suggests that this is unlikely.
Lotem Bassan-Nygate is a PhD student in the department of political science at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Twitter: @BassanNygate
Chagai M. Weiss is a PhD candidate in the department of political science at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and a research affiliate of the Elections Research Center. Twitter: @chagai_weiss