A poll conducted by the Maagar Mochot Institute, led by Prof. Yitzhak Katz, for the Israel Hayom newspaper finds that if elections were to be held today, the Likud, led by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, would be the largest party in the Knesset with 28 seats.
Yair Lapid is establishing his position as the leader of the second largest party in the Knesset, with Yesh Atid winning 15 seats in the poll. Gideon Saar's New Hope continues its slow decline and now stands at 13 seats. Yamina, led by Naftali Bennett, wins 11 seats in the poll.
The predominantly Arab Joint List wins 11 seats in this poll. Shas wins 9 seats and United Torah Judaism 7. Yisrael Beytenu remains steady with 6 seats and Meretz wins 6 seats as well.
The Labor Party, led by Merav Michaeli, passes the electoral threshold and wins 5 seats. Benny Gantz’s Blue and White also passes the electoral threshold and wins 5 seats as well.
The Israelis party, led by Ron Huldai and Avi Nissenkorn, does not pass the electoral threshold and receives 0.6 percent in this poll, while Professor Yaron Zelekha New Economic party actually passes the threshold and wins 4 seats.
Other parties that do not pass the electoral threshold: Telem led by Moshe Bogie Ya'alon, Ofer Shelah's Tnufa, the Veterans Party led by Danny Yatom and the Ale Yarok party, which calls for the legalization of cannabis.
Parties on the right - the Jewish Home, the National Union and Otzma Yehudit - do not pass the electoral threshold when running separately.
The poll examined what would happen if Gideon Sa’ar and Naftali Bennett were to unite into one slate at the last moment. In such a scenario the whole will be greater than the sum of its parts and the two will win 25 seats. The Likud wins 27 seats in this scenario.
And what will happen if Yair Lapid and Ron Huldai decide to cooperate and run as one slate? In such a scenario, the united slate will win 19 seats. Although the gap from the Likud still remains large, it is narrowing. Gideon Sa’ar in such a scenario will receive only 11 seats.