With less than a week before all parliamentary hopefuls must present the Central Election Committee with their slates for the March 23 elections, the political turmoil has taken its toll on nearly every party.
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A poll commissioned by Israel Hayom has found that both sides of the political map are facing an uphill battle ahead of the elections – Israel's fourth in the span of two years – and various mergers, splits, and political newcomers are likely to see an untold number of precious votes go to waste.
The poll projected the Likud will remain the biggest party in the Knesset, winning 28 seats. Yesh Atid comes in second with 15 mandates, followed by New Hope (13), the Joint Arab List (11), Yamina (11), Sephardi ultra-Orthodox party Shas (9), Ashkenazi Haredi party United Torah Judaism (7), Yisrael Beytenu (6), Meretz (6), Labor (5), Blue and White (5), and the Economic Party, which for the first time crosses the electoral threshold, meeting the minimal requirement of four seats.
The poll projected that the Religious Zionist, Israelis, Telem, Tnufa, Gesher, Habayit Hayehudi, and Pensioners parties will not cross the electoral threshold, nor will the far-right Otzma Yehudit party.
The poll, conducted by the Maagar Mochot polling institute among 500 respondents comprising a representative sample of Israelis 18 and over, has a statistical margin of error is 4.4 percentage points.
Various mergers could create only minor changes to the projected political map.
The poll found that should Labor, the Israelis party, Tnufa, Telem, and the Economic Party join forces, they would win a combined 13 seats. Likud would hold steady with 28 mandates, and New Hope would drop to 12 seats.
Asked how they would vote if Yamina leader Naftali Bennett and New Hope leader Gideon Sa'ar vie for parliament under one ticket, respondents gave Likud 27 seats, followed by Yamina-New Hope (25), Yesh Atid (15), the Joint Arab List (10), Shas (9), United Torah Judaism (7), Yisrael Beytenu (7), Meretz (6), Labor (5), the Economic Party (5), and Blue and White (4).
Asked how they would vote if Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and Israelis party leader Ron Huldai run on one slate, respondents gave Likud 27 seats, followed by Yesh Atid-Israelis (19), New Hope (11), JAL (10), Yamina (10), Shas (8), Meretz (8) UTJ (7), Yisrael Beytenu (7), Labor (5), the Economic Party (4), and Blue and White (4).
Gaging approval ratings, the poll asked respondents who they believe is most suited for the role of the prime minister.
Some 33% named Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 14% chose Lapid, 12% opted for Sa'ar, 10% supported Bennett, 5% selected Huldai, 3% picked Blue and White leader Benny Gantz and 23% said they had no opinion on the matter or named other public officials.
Moreover, 32% are likely to lend their support to who they believe can stabilize the economy, hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
The identity of parties' leaders will affect only 16% of voters, factions' position on issues of religious and state will be a consideration for 15% of the voters, some 14% will vote according to parties' defense agenda, 7% will give particular consideration to the way the coronavirus crisis has been managed, and 16% of respondents named other considerations.
Finally, the survey looked into the public's state of mind: Some 45% said they were pessimistic about the chances that the coronavirus crisis would end within the next six months; 44% were optimistic, and 11% said they did not know.
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