Poll finds that when the Likud is headed by Sa’ar, it wins two fewer seats but the right-wing bloc as a whole wins three more seats.
According to the weekly Radio 103FM poll, prepared by the Smith Institute headed by Rafi Smith, the right-wing and haredi bloc, headed by Binyamin Netanyahu, reaches 56 seats, while the center-left bloc, including the Arabs, has 57 seats. Yisrael Beytenu, headed by Avigdor Liberman, is in the middle with 7 seats.
If Gideon Sa’ar leads the right-wing bloc, the Likud is weakened by two seats, but the entire bloc reaches 59 seats, putting it a step away from being able to form a right-wing government. The center-left bloc is weakened to 55 seats in this scenario, and Liberman’s power is also weakened from 7 to 6 seats.
If elections were held today and the Likud were headed by Netanyahu, the poll found, Blue and White would win 35 seats, followed by the Likud with 32.
The predominantly Arab Joint List has 13 seats in this scenario, and Shas has 8. United Torah Judaism and Yisrael Beytenu each win 7 seats, while the New Right has 5, as does Labor-Gesher. The United Right list, made up of the Jewish Home, the National Union and Otzma Yehudit, wins 4 seats. The Democratic Union rounds out the list with 4 seats.
If Sa’ar leads the Likud, Blue and White win 33 seats and the Likud wins 30. The Joint List again has 13 seats, Shas wins 9, and the New Right has 8. United Torah Judaism wins 7 seats in this scenario, and Yisrael Beytenu, as mentioned above, is down to 6 seats.
Rounding out the list are United Right and Labor-Gesher with 5 seats each, and the Democratic Union with 4 Knesset seats.
On the question of who is best suited to serve as Prime Minister, Netanyahu’s advantage is lower than ever and stands at only 5%.
43% of respondents said the incumbent Prime Minister is most suitable for the job, compared to 38% for Sa’ar.
However, it should be noted that this figure applies to all respondents in the poll, and not just to those who indicate themselves as Likud voters. Among the Likudniks, 87% said Netanyahu is most suitable to serve as Prime Minister, while only 3% mentioned Sa’ar. Regarding the primaries for the Likud leadership which are scheduled for next week, 80% indicated that they favor the current leader, while only 12 percent expressed support for Sa’ar.
@ Bear Klein: I have no idea whether this would enable Bibi to win the election or not. But it is definitely something that he should do. Bibi has always teded to be all talk and no action where national security and defense issues are at stake. And it probably does cost him votes from rightists and settlers.
Newer Poll shows Saar getting right wing 60 Seats and reducing Blue/White Seats by 4 as compared to Bibi.
I concur with Glick. Why has Bibi not applied Israeli Civil Law to Area C? Why has he not built in E1? Why just talk? Unless he acts he will not win.