A good start is to look at actual figures- namely the voting patterns of Israeli jews. Looking at that- the statement by this so-called Professsor is wrong. The chareidi lists (agudah and degel hatorah)have never received more than about 5% of the population. The religious zionists lists, in all their permutations, have consistently outvoted the “chareidi” lists,sometimes by a large percentage, so that clearly indicates that the chareidi public is not more numerous than the other orthodox people. The question is what “shas” is. Some call it chareidi- making the Professor’s possibly correct- but many of the votes of “shas’ is by non-practicing sefardim- which is reflected in the different successes of shas ni recent years (17 seats, 11 seats) so this professors opinion is not backed up by the actual figures. In the US, who knows? no empiric, accurate way of counting is possible.
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