Polls Say Gantz Support Sags

The ups and downs of politics have apparently caught up with Benny Gantz’s Israel Resilience party, as the latest polls show a significant drop in public support.

Until now, the trajectory has been only up, with recent polls giving his party as much 24 seats in the Knesset; but in Sunday’s results it was down, to 18 seats in a Channel 12 poll, to 20 in Channel 11’s.

Gantz has come under repeated attack by the Likud, accusing him of being center of left, after he praised the Sharon government’s handling of the pullout from Gush Katif. Gantz has refused to identify himself with either the left or right, saying he is for national unity.

According to the polls, the main beneficiary of the Gantz sag was Labor, which rebounded to 10 from 5 last time out. It was not clear why Labor’s position improved, though the rallying of the party behind chairman Avi Gabbay and his supporters in the recent primaries, which rolled out smoothly, may have had a positive effect.

Likud was projected to win 30 in both polls, down from 32 a week ago. In third place was Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid with 12, up from 10.

The Jewish Home-National Union list, reunited after protracted negotiations, received four seats in the poll, just enough to stay in the Knesset.

Meanwhile, Meretz chairperson Tamar Zandberg predicted that her left-wing party would win 10 seats.

“I don’t think there has ever been such a diverse and accurate list; our response to the Nation State Law is true Jewish-Arab cooperation at the head of our list,” Zandberg said, pledging to fight racism and other forms of injustice.