According to the poll, Kadima, the front-runner party headed by Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, will gain 35 seats in the Knesset, if the elections were held today. Though that represents only one seat less than last week’s Ma’ariv poll, other national polls are reporting similar results of waning support for the party founded by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon shortly before suffering a debilitating stroke.
Since the campaign moved into high gear last month, most polls have shown consistent declines in support for Kadima. Support reached a nadir just before last week’s raid on the Jericho jail in which the IDF netted the murderers of Tourist Minister Rehavam Ze’evi who were about to be set free by the PA. They bounced back following the raid, but rapidly returned to the levels they were at before.
Interestingly, a poll carried out for Mabat, Israel’s public television news broadcast, showed Monday night that over 20% of the electorate has yet to decide whom to vote for, an extraordinarily high percentage just one week before going to the polls.
In Israel, such a statistic translates into 25 Knesset seats, meaning that the election results are far from decided. Although the accuracy of Israeli opinion polls are hotly contested, a 20% undecided rate at this stage may signal that a surprise is in the offing, according to many pollsters.
The latest poll indicates that parties supporting the left still hold a numerical advantage over the right.
The breakdown of the Ma’ariv poll is as follows:
Kadima (L) 35 seats
Labor (L) 20 seats
Likud (R) 17 seats
Yisrael Beitaynu (R) 11 seats
Shas (R) 10 seats
National Union – NRP (R) 9 seats
Arab Parties (L) 8 seats
United Torah Judaism (R) 5 seats
Meretz (L) 5 seats
Left/Arabs: Kadima, Labor, Arabs, Meretz 68
Left (without Arabs) 60
Right/Religious: Likud, National Union – NRP, Yisrael Beitaynu, Shas, United Torah Judaism 52
The percentage of undecided voters was not published on the website. There are 120 seats in the Knesset.
Since the campaign moved into high gear last month, most polls have shown consistent declines in support for Kadima. Support reached a nadir just before last week’s raid on the Jericho jail in which the IDF netted the murderers of Tourist Minister Rehavam Ze’evi who were about to be set free by the PA. They bounced back following the raid, but rapidly returned to the levels they were at before.
Interestingly, a poll carried out for Mabat, Israel’s public television news broadcast, showed Monday night that over 20% of the electorate has yet to decide whom to vote for, an extraordinarily high percentage just one week before going to the polls.
In Israel, such a statistic translates into 25 Knesset seats, meaning that the election results are far from decided. Although the accuracy of Israeli opinion polls are hotly contested, a 20% undecided rate at this stage may signal that a surprise is in the offing, according to many pollsters.
The latest poll indicates that parties supporting the left still hold a numerical advantage over the right.
The breakdown of the Ma’ariv poll is as follows:
Kadima (L) 35 seats
Labor (L) 20 seats
Likud (R) 17 seats
Yisrael Beitaynu (R) 11 seats
Shas (R) 10 seats
National Union – NRP (R) 9 seats
Arab Parties (L) 8 seats
United Torah Judaism (R) 5 seats
Meretz (L) 5 seats
Left/Arabs: Kadima, Labor, Arabs, Meretz 68
Left (without Arabs) 60
Right/Religious: Likud, National Union – NRP, Yisrael Beitaynu, Shas, United Torah Judaism 52
The percentage of undecided voters was not published on the website. There are 120 seats in the Knesset.