A new poll released Friday shows the Likud rebounding, while Yamina continues to lose ground as former Likud MK Gideon Sa’ar’s new party is projected to become the second largest party in the Knesset.
According to the new poll, which was conducted by Panels Politics and published Friday morning by Ma’ariv, if new elections were held today, the Likud would remain the largest faction in the Knesset with 29 seats.
That’s down significantly from the 36 seats the Likud won in March, but up from the previous Panels Politics poll, released on Wednesday, which showed the Likud winning just 27 seats.
Sa’ar’s new party, dubbed New Hope – Unity for Israel – is poised to become the second largest Knesset faction with 19 seats, down from 20 in the previous poll.
The rightist Yamina party, on the other hand, continues to hemorrhage votes, sinking from 14 seats in the previous poll to 13 mandates – down from the mid-20s in polls conducted before Sa’ar announced the establishment of New Hope.
The Yesh Atid-Telem alliance is tied with Yamina for third place with 13 seats, with the Joint Arab List following with 11 seats – down from the 15 it won in March.
Blue and White, which sank to just five seats in the previous Panels Politics poll, moved up to seven seats in Friday’s survey.
Yisrael Beytenu held steady at seven seats, while the far-left Meretz faction received five seats in the poll.
Among the haredi factions, Shas is projected to win eight seats, as is United Torah Judaism.
Labor, the Jewish Home, Gesher, and Otzma Yehudit all fail to cross the 3.25% electoral threshold.
When respondents were asked which major party candidate is most suited to serve as prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu came in first place with 37%, compared to 16% for Gideon Sa’ar, with Yamina’s Naftali Bennett and Yesh Atid’s Yair Lapid tied for third place with 10% each. Benny Gantz came in a distant fifth place with 5%.
