Binyamin Netanyahu
Binyamin NetanyahuScreen Capture

A Channel 2 poll conducted by the Sarid Institute shows the Likud party gaining 10 Knesset seats if elections were held today, and Kadima losing 11 seats. According to the poll, Likud would have 37 seats, and Kadima would have only 17, putting it in third place after Labor, which would receive 22 seats.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party is projected to receive 15 seats, the same number it currently holds.

Asked whom they preferred as leader, 41% approved of Netanyahu. Labor leader Shelly Yechimovich received 15% and Kadima's Livni was tied with Lieberman at 9%.

Channel 2 attributes Likud's heightened popularity to the Shalit deal. Yechimovich, it says, gained strength following the summer's social protests. Livni was weakened by her criticism of the Shalit deal, which some people thought came too late, and others said came too soon after the deal was carried out.