Likud holds steady in new poll, would still win handily if Gantz launches party

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party would cruise to victory if fresh elections were held, a Hadashot TV news poll released this evening says.

Likud would win 32 seats in new elections, up from its current 30, followed by Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid, which would place well behind Likud with 18 seats. The party currently has 11 Knesset seats.

The Zionist Union, an alliance of Labor and Tzipi Livni’s Hatnua, would place third with 15 seats. Though well down from the 24 seats it now holds, the result is an improvement on recent polls that gave the party around 10 seats.

The Zionist Union would be followed by the Joint (Arab) List at 12 (13), Jewish Home at 7 (8), Kulanu at 7 (10), United Torah Judaism at 7 (6), Shas at 6 (7), Yisrael Beytenu at 6 (5) and Meretz at 5. A yet to be named party led by independent MK Orly Levy-Abekasis would win 5 seats, according to the poll.

The poll also asked respondents how they would vote if former IDF chief of staff were to run at the head of a new party. In such a case, Likud would win 28 seats, Yesh Atid 14, Gantz’s party 13 and the Zionist Union at 10.

Asked who they prefer for prime minister, 34 percent of respondents say Netanyahu, 13% Gantz, 9% Lapid, 5% Kulanu head Moshe Kahlon, 3% Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett, and 3% Zionist Union chief Avi Gabbay.