With slightly less than three weeks to go until the Sept. 17 election, no bloc can allow itself to lose as much as a single vote, this week's i24NEWS-Israel Hayom poll, conducted by the Maagar Mohot institute, shows.
And there is movement: In terms of dry numbers, if the election were held today, the center-left Blue and White list would win 32 seats, moving ahead of the Likud for the first time in the campaign. The poll predicted 30 seats for Likud.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
The poll predicted 11 seats each for the Joint Arab List and Yisrael Beytenu; 10 seats for Yamina (formerly the New Right); eight seats for Shas, and seven seats for United Torah Judaism. Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak's Democratic Union was projected to win six seats, and Labor-Gesher was projected to win five.
Neither Otzma Yehudit nor Zehut would pass the minimum electoral threshold of 3.25%, the poll predicted. However, the poll was conducted before Zehut leader Moshe Feiglin announced on Thursday that Zehut was dropping out. Feiglin has reached a deal with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that secures him a ministerial position in the next government if his party does not run.
In terms of the major blocs, the poll showed that if the election were held today, the right-wing bloc would win 55 seats, with the center-left bloc winning 54 seats. Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman would win 11 seats, keeping him in the position to decide how the election will play out after the voting.
When respondents were asked for whom they would vote if the smaller right-wing parties – Zehut, Otzma Yehudit, and Noam – dropped out, the Right as a whole would be in a more advantageous position. In that scenario, the Right would receive 58 seats, whereas the center-left bloc would drop to only 51 seats.
When asked who they thought was best-qualified to serve as prime minister, 40% of the respondents picked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Some 24% picked Blue and White leader Benny Gantz. Only 6% of respondents thought that Yamina leader Ayelet Shaked was the best candidate for prime minister.
