Rockets and votes.

• Palestinian organizations started to fire rockets on Israel in 2001 and have continued to do so ever since. • I explore how these attacks affected voting patterns in national Israeli elections. • To measure variation in the intensity of the rocket threat over time and across space, I use detailed data on claims for rocket-related property damages. • I find that rocket attacks from Gaza increase support for the right political bloc in Israel. • Recent attacks, initial exposure and geographical proximity lead to stronger effects on voting behavior Citizens in many countries are forced to make their political decisions under the threat of terrorism. This paper explores the effects of rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip on voting patterns in Israeli elections between 1999 and 2015. Relying on a micro-level dataset of claims for rocket-related property damages as a proxy for the severity of the rocket attacks, I find that an additional one thousand claims in a locality increases right-bloc parties' vote-share by about 4 percentage points. Recent attacks, initial exposure and geographical proximity lead to stronger effects on voting behavior. The results are driven by actual exposure of the locality to rocket fire rather than by the mere threat of an attack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]