A new poll shows Likud and Israel Our Home gaining popularity and the entire nationalist and religious camp growing from 65 to 73 Knesset seats, if elections were held today. The poll was carried out by Maagar Mochot for Reshet Bet government-run radio.
The poll has the ruling Likud party with 33 Knesset seats if new elections were held, compared to the 27 it currently has. Kadima would cease being the largest party, and would shrink from 28 to 26 Knesset seats. Israel Our Home, headed by Avigdor Lieberman, would grow to 21 seats, six more than the 15 it holds now.
The nationalist and religious bloc – commonly identified as including the hareidi-religious parties Shas and UTJ – would have 73 seats in all, while the Left (Kadima, Labor, Meretz and the Arab parties) would shrink to 47 seats (compared to 55 now).
Labor under Ehud Barak would continue to decline – as it has been doing since 2001 – going from 13 to 9 seats. The poll predicts smaller fluctuations in the religious parties: Shas would go from 11 MKs to 9, United Torah Judaism and the Jewish Home would remain the same with 5 and 3 seats respectively, and the National Union would slide from 4 to 2 seats.
Asked who was better suited for the job of Prime Minister, over two thirds (68%) of those who have an opinion on the matter said they preferred Likud's Binyamin Netanyahu over Kadima's Tzipi Livni.
The poll could be construed as bad news for US president Barack Obama, who would like Israel to withdraw from the Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria. Such a strategic shift would probably involve Israel Our Home's exiting the government and pro-appeasement Kadima entering it. A strengthening of the nationalist camp means that this scenario is less likely than it was before.