Binyamin Netanyahu visits Hatikva Market in Tel Aviv ahead of 2019 elections
Binyamin Netanyahu visits Hatikva Market in Tel Aviv ahead of 2019 electionsFlash90

A pair of new polls Friday show the right-wing – religious bloc maintaining a wide lead over the left-wing - Arab bloc ahead of next Tuesday’s general election, even as the center-left Blue and White party continues to lead the Likud party.

With a ban on the publication of new polls slated to go into effect on Saturday, one of the final polls in the election cycle was released Friday by 103FM Radio, showing the combined right-wing – religious bloc with a total of 66 seats out of 120 if new elections were held today, compared to 54 for the left-wing – Arab bloc.

The poll, which was conducted by Maagar Mohot, shows the center-left Blue and White party of Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid leading the Likud by three mandates, 31 to 28.

In a distant third place is the Labor party with nine seats, following by four factions each receiving seven seats: the Union of Right-Wing Parties, the United Torah Judaism party, the far-left Meretz, and the Hadash-Ta’al joint Arab list.

Four more factions received six seats apiece: the libertarian-leaning Zehut party of Moshe Feiglin, the haredi Shas party, the New Right, and Kulanu.

The United Arab List-Balad ticket, Yisrael Beytenu, and Gesher all failed to cross the threshold in the poll.

Maagar Mohot poll for 103FM Radio

Blue and White: 31
Likud: 28
Labor: 9
Union of Right-Wing Parties: 7
UTJ: 7
Hadash/Ta’al: 7
Meretz: 7
Zehut: 6
Shas: 6
New Right: 6
Kulanu: 6
Yisrael Beytenu: 0
UAL-Balad: 0
Gesher: 0

Another poll, released Friday afternoon by Ma’ariv’s ‘Sofhashavua’ weekend edition also showed the right-wing – religious bloc with 66 seats, compared to 54 for the left-wing – Arab bloc.

The poll, which was produced by the Smith polling firm (which conducted another poll released Friday morning by Ma’ariv), shows the Blue and White party leading the Likud by two seats, 29 to 27.

Labor came in third with nine, followed by the haredi United Torah Judaism with seven.

The joint Arab list of Hadash and Ta’al also received seven seats in the poll, while the second Arab list, a joint ticket of the United Arab List and Balad, received four seats.

The New Right, Union of Right-Wing Parties, and Shas, all received six seats in the Smith poll.

The far-left Meretz party received five seats, as did the libertarian-leaning Zehut and center-right Kulanu.

Yisrael Beytenu is projected to win four seats in the poll, narrowly clearing the electoral threshold.

The center-left Gesher party of MK Orly Levy, who bolted from Yisrael Beytenu in 2016, did not pass the threshold, receiving just 2.6% of the vote. A party must receive 3.25% of the vote to enter the Knesset.

Rafi Smith poll for Ma’ariv Sofhashavua

Blue and White: 29
Likud: 27
Labor: 9
UTJ: 7
Hadash/Ta’al: 7
Shas: 6
New Right: 6
Union of Right-Wing Parties: 6
Meretz: 5
Zehut: 5
Kulanu: 5
Yisrael Beytenu: 4
UAL-Balad: 4
Gesher: 2.6%*

*Under electoral threshold

Other polls released Friday found the margin between the left-wing and right-wing blocs narrowing.

A separate Smith poll released by Ma’ariv showed the right-wing bloc falling to 64 seats, compared to 56 for the left-wing – Arab bloc.

Another survey released Friday, this time by Yediot Ahronot and conducted by Midgam, showed the right-wing – religious bloc falling to 63 seats, with 57 going to the left-wing – Arab bloc.

A second Maagar Mohot poll on Friday, released by i24News and Israel Hayom, showed the left-wing bloc with 56 seats, to the right-wing – religious bloc’s 64.