Poll: Bennett Gaining at the Expense of Likud/Beitenu

According to a poll released on Tuesday morning 12 Teves 5773 by the daily Haaretz, the Bayit HaYehudi Party continues to climb in the polls. The poll shows the right-wing party with 13 seats, pointing out it appears to be at the expense of Likud/Yisrael Beitenu, which is down four seats to 35. The poll places Bayit HaYehudi as the third largest party in Knesset, behind Labor, with the latter climbing to 17 seats.

The issue at hand surrounds recent remarks by the party’s leader, Naftali Bennett, in which Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu accused him of backing defiance of orders in the IDF when it comes to pulling Jews from their homes. Netanyahu took advantage of the situation and announced he would not bring any party that backs insubordination in the military into a coalition government. Bennett called a motzei shabbos press conference to clarify his remarks, stating he never supported refusal of orders and as a reserve duty officer in an elite unit, he does not support insubordination.

The Haaretz Dialogue Poll shows the left-wing/center receiving 53 seats (including 11 seats from Arab parties) while the right-wing will receive 67. Haaretz posits that the impending indictment against Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Lieberman may also account for a drop for the joint Likud/Beitenu list. However, a Walla Poll published on December 18, 2012 showed the resignation of Lieberman did not negatively impact the election bid.

Regarding Rabbi Chaim Amsellem’s Am Shalem Party, Haaretz shows the rabbi will not clear the minimum threshold to enter the 19^th Knesset, theorizing that previous polls showed Amsellem received 40% of his support from non-frum voters, and it appears that shifted to Labor, and possibly to The Movement (Tzipi Livni) and Yesh Atid (Yair Lapid) since those centrist parties are also showing improved results.

Poll Results:

Likud/Beitenu (35) (37 -Maariv 21/12) (37 –Channel Two 20/12)

Labor (17) (20 -Maariv 21/12) (20–Channel Two 20/12)

Bayit Yehudi (13) (12-Maariv 21/12) (12–Channel Two 20/12)

Shas (13) (11-Maariv 21/12) (11–Channel Two 20/12)

The Movement (10) (9-Maariv 21/12) (9–Channel Two 20/12)

Yesh Atid (9) (7-Maariv 21/12) (7–Channel Two 20/12)

Yahadut Hatorah (6) (6-Maariv 21/12) (6–Channel Two 20/12)

Meretz (4) (4-Maariv 21/12) (4–Channel Two 20/12)

Ra’am – Ta’al (4) (4-Maariv 21/12) (Combined Arab parties 10–Channel Two 20/12)

Hadash (4) (3-Maariv 21/12) (–)

Balad (3) (3-Maariv 21/12) (–)

Kadima (2) (0-Maariv 21/12) (0–Channel Two 20/12)

Am Shalem (-) (0-Maariv 21/12) (0–Channel Two 20/12)

Otzma Yisrael (-) (2-Maariv 21/12) (0–Channel Two 20/12)

Which politician is most trustworthy in your eyes?

None (22%)

Netanyahu (18%)

Bennett (14%)

Livni (10%)

Deri (9%)

Yacimovich (9%)

Lapid (7%)

Lieberman (5%)

Which of the politicians are most concerned with your problems/issues?

None (33%)

Yacimovich (17%)

Netanyahu (9%)

Deri (9%)

Lapid (9%)

Bennett (9%)

Livni (5%)

Lieberman (4%)

Who do you rely upon regarding security issues?

Netanyahu (38%)

Bennett (9%)

Livni (8%)

Yacimovich (4%)

Who do you rely upon regarding economic issues?

Netanyahu (37%)

Yacimovich (14%)

Livni (6%)

Bennett (4%)

Do you agree with Bennett’s statement that an IDF soldier may refuse a direct order?

59% – do not agree

29% – agree

12% – do not know

From which politician would you buy a used car from?

None (34%)

Netanyahu (9%)

Yacimovich (9%)

Lapid (8%)

Livni (8%)

Deri (8%)

Bennett (7%)

Lieberman (2%)

Which of the politicians would you prefer to spend a night out on the town with?

Netanyahu (20%)

Lapid (14%)

Bennett (11%)

Deri (8%)

Livni (8%)

Lieberman (7%)

Yacimovich (5%)

The Dialogue Poll was supervised by Prof. Camil Fuchs of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Statistics. The poll was conducted on December 23 and 24, 2012. There were 491 respondents called and 30% were willing to take part in the poll.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)