Poll Shows Likud, Netanyahu Maintaining Strength

A new poll published in Yisrael Hayom has the Likud rising to 34 seats in a new Knesset if elections were held now. The poll, taken on behalf of the Likud by the Geocartigraphia organization, shows the Likud getting 34 seats, a significant increase over the 30 the party now has. The poll also showed Zionist Camp falling to 9 seats – the worst showing yet in polls for the party which currently has 24 seats in the Knesset.

Most of those seats would transfer to Yesh Atid, which the poll shows garnering 20 seats – four to five less than in previous polls. United Torah Judaism and Jewish Home would be tied with Zionist Camp, with 9 seats each. Kulanu would come in with 6 seats, while Yisrael Beytenu would get 4, as would Shas. Meretz would come in with 7 seats.

Among the surprises in the poll was the strength of a bid by disaffected Yisrael Beytenu MK Orli Levi-Abukasis. Following disagreements with party head Avigdor Liberman, Levi-Abukasis dropped out of Yisrael Beytenu and now maintains her own faction of one in the Knesset. If she were to form a party and run, however, the poll shows that she would get 7 seats.

Speaking over the weekend, colorful Likud MK Oren Hazan said that according to polls he has commissioned, he would be able to gain at least four Knesset seats if he were to set out on his own. In an interview at a weekend forum in Kibbutz Gezer, Hazan said “I am just as strong as Levi-Abukasis. My polls show a party led by me passing the electoral threshold.” He did not say that he was planning to quit the Likud, however. Hazan was chosen for the Likud list in one of the spots reserved for young representatives.