Binyamin Netanyahu at cabinet meeting June 28th 2020
Binyamin Netanyahu at cabinet meeting June 28th 2020Reuters

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu would win a sixth term as premier if new elections were held today, a new poll shows, even as his Likud party continues to lose support.

According to the poll, which was conducted by Maagar Mohot and published by Radio 103FM on Friday, if new elections were held today, the Likud would win 35 seats, down one from its current 36 seats and down three in comparison to the previous Maagar Mohot, which was released on July 3rd.

Despite the Likud’s continuing decline amid growing public disapproval of the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, the right-wing bloc retains its majority, the poll found, sliding just one seat since early July, from 64 seats to 63.

The left-wing – Arab bloc rose one seat, from 48 to 49 mandates.

The secular rightist Yisrael Beytenu held steady at eight seats, one more than it won in March.

While widespread dissatisfaction with the government’s behavior during the coronavirus pandemic has hurt the Likud, Friday’s poll found that the Likud’s senior coalition partner, Blue and White, actually gained seats, rising from 10 seats in the previous poll to 12 mandates. That’s still below the 15 seats the party has in the current Knesset, however.

The Joint Arab List held steady at 15 seats, the poll fund, while the far-left Meretz party slide from six to five seats.

Among the haredi factions, Shas retained its nine seats, while United Torah Judaism would gain one seat, rising from the seven seats it currently holds to eight.

Yamina, which won six seats in March and polled at nine seats earlier this month, rose to 11 seats in the poll.

Labor, Gesher, Derech Eretz, Otzma Yehudit, and the Jewish Home all failed to cross the 3.25% electoral threshold.