Poll: Yesh Atid Ties Likud

If elections were held today, Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party would pull even with the ruling Likud, both with 24 Knesset seats, according to a poll conducted by Channel 10.

The poll seemed to indicate that Labor chairman Avi Gabbay’s bid for center-right votes in recent weeks has not succeeded, as Zionist Camp (of which Labor is the main faction) garnered only 17 seats.

However, the good news for PM Netanyahu is that the configuration of parties still favors a narrow Likud-led coalition. Without support from the chareidi parties, analysts say that Lapid would be unable to form a majority bloc, and leaders of both United Torah Judaism and Shas have ruled that out.

Jewish Home was seen getting 12 seats, a gain of one; the Joint (Arab) List would slip from 12 to 11; Kulanu up from 5 to 7; Meretz 8 to 7; UTJ 6 to 7; Yisrael Beytenu steady at 5; and Shas just clearing the threshold with 4.

Interviewers questioned 700 respondents, 599 of them Jewish, 101 Arab. The poll had a maximum sampling error of 3.7 percent.