Polls Show Netanyahu, Right Remain Ahead, Despite Southern Tension

YERUSHALAYIM
likud
Likud campaign posters outside a polling station in Yerushalayim. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

New polls taken Tuesday show that the security situation in the south is not having a major impact on the upcoming elections. A new poll presented by Army Radio Wednesday shows Blue and White getting 30 seats if elections were held today, with the Likud getting 28. With that, the right-wing bloc of parties – parties to the right of the Likud, as well as those that have declared that they will not sit in a government led by Benny Gantz – remains ahead.

The third-largest party if elections were held now would be Labor, garnering 10 seats in the Army Radio poll. Arab party Hadash-Ta’al would get eight. United Torah Judaism would get seven, while Shas rises to six seats. New Right and the United Right List would get five each, as would Meretz. Getting four seats would be Kulanu, Gesher, Zehut and Yisrael Beytenu. Arab party Ra’am-Balad does not pass the electoral threshold. Based on these results, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu could recruit 63 MKs for a new government.

Another poll released Wednesday by Reshet Bet shows similar results. Blue and White would get 30 seats and the Likud 28 in this poll, while Labor, still the third-largest party, would get just eight. Attaining seven would be the New Right, United Torah Judaism and Hadash-Ta’al. Shas, Kulanu and Zehut would get six each, while the United Right List, Meretz and Ra’am-Balad would get five each. Yisrael Beytenu and Gesher do not pass the threshold. In the Reshet Bet poll, Netanyahu’s coalition would consist of 65 MKs.

The Reshet Bet poll also shows that Israelis want a harsher response to the rocket attacks from Gaza. According to the poll, 53 percent of Israelis believe that the IDF’s response to the attacks was “too weak,” while 29 percent said it was proper. One third said that Netanyahu’s response to the attacks was “not good,” with another third saying that it was “lukewarm.” Only 24 percent termed it “good.” With that, 45 percent said they would prefer to see Netanyahu remain in office, while only 34 percent said that Benny Gantz would make a good prime minister.

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