[VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]
A Channel 10 News polls announced on Tuesday night the eve of 18 Kislev shoes that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his Likud party are in trouble, for the combined tickets of Labor (Yitzchak Herzog) and The Movement (Tzipi Livni) is now two seats ahead of the ruling Likud party. The poll, which was conducted by Prof. Camil Fuchs shows the Labor tickets would receive 22 seats if elections were held today while Likud only receives 20 seats.
While the numbers speak for themselves, the centrist/left-wing ticket with 22 seats would still have a significantly more difficult time assembling a coalition than would the Likud.
The poll also shows Bayit Yehudi will only receive 15 seats, and while still an increase from its current 12 seats, it is far from the predicted 20 seats party members believe the dati leumi party will receive.
(Number of seats in current outgoing Knesset in parenthesis).
Yisrael Beitenu receives 11 seats (13), Yesh Atid 10 (19), Shas 7 (11), and Yahadut Hatorah 7 (7).
Meretz received 7 (6) seats and the combined Arab slate a total of 9 (11).
No less dramatic is the response to the question Who is most suited to be prime minister?
23% Binyamin Netanyahu
22% Yitzchak Herzog
13% Naftali Bennett
These number clearly show the tzibur’s disenchantment with the incumbent and Herzog’s success in exhibiting leadership abilities as he continues efforts to build a centrist/left-wing bloc headed by his Labor party to unseat Likud. PM Netanyahu’s popularity seems to be waning daily, one of the reasons he wants to move up his party’s primaries to elect the party leadership.
The poll also shows that if Gideon Saar heads Likud instead of Netanyahu, the party earns the same number of seats, bringing an end to the illusion that only Mr. Netanyahu can bring in the votes. Likud officials explain that the results are not dramatic since the poll shows Saar and Netanyahu side-by-side but if polls addressed each candidate independent of the other, they are confident Netanyahu would lead by a significant margin over Saar.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
so now everything switches:
A Republican US, with a leftist Israel…
and don’t forget – The Arabs will lay low knowing it’s election time, so people don’t move right…
Based on the numbers the ony Labor even comes close to forming a government is if they have Hareidim and Arab (anti-zionists).
Likud (assuming neither Bayit Yehudi nor Yisrael Beiteinu decide they prefer a socialist anti-settlement government and join Labor) will have to choose between the hareidim (cancel conscription) or allying with some left of center factions.
Livni joining Labor doesn’t increase the number of anti-right seats, though it might scare some die-hard socialists into voting for Meretz.
The big question is that without Lapid, with the nationalist block (Likud, Bayit Yehudi and Yisrael Beiteinu) be willing to cancel conscription instead of allying with parties to the left.
I think that as people learn the idiotic deal Herzog made with Livni, about sharing the Prime Ministers position, they will fall in the polls. It just shows that Herzog is not qualified and can’t negotiate anything.
It was a smart move on his part to join forces and get the extra seats that put him in the lead, but Livni would have settled for her recent position. It was amateur hour and Israeli’s don’t have patience for amateurs.