Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu would be reelected to an unprecedented sixth term as premier if new elections were held today, a new poll shows.
According to the poll, which was conducted by the Maagar Mohot polling agency and published by Israel Hayom Friday morning, if new elections were held today, the Likud under Netanyahu would remain the largest faction in the Knesset with 31 seats.
That’s a loss of five seats, however, from the Likud’s current 36 seats.
In addition, the Likud faces a new rival, with the rightist Yamina party cutting into the Likud’s lead.
In the new poll, Yamina receives 20 seats, quadrupling its strength from the five seats it currently holds.
Yamina’s rise has contributed to a widening lead by the right-wing bloc, which expanded in the Maagar Mohot poll from 63 seats in late August to 67 seats, compared to 49 seats for the left-wing bloc in August and 45 seats in Friday’s poll. Yisrael Beytenu, which broke off from the rightist bloc, polled at 8 seats in both polls.
The center-left Blue and White party, which formed a national unity government with the Likud this spring, is projected to win 10 seats, the same is in the previous poll but down sharply from the 15 seats it currently holds.
Yesh Atid-Telem, which had polled at 19 seats in August, fell to just 13 seats Friday, down from the 16 it currently has in the Knesset.
The Joint Arab List rose to 17 seats from 15, while the far-left Meretz party held steady at five seats, two more than it currently holds.
Among the haredi factions, Shas rose from eight seats in the previous poll to nine, the same number it has in the current Knesset. United Torah Judaism fell from eight to seven seats.
Labor, Derech Eretz, Gesher, the Jewish Home, and Otzma Yehudit all failed to cross the 3.25% electoral threshold in Friday’s poll.
Regarding the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis, just 16% gave the government a "good or very good" rating, compared to 25% who rated the government's handling of the crisis as "average" and 59% who rated it as "poor or very poor".
