Polls show Likud closing gap despite Netanyahu indictment

Polls released by Israel’s three main news casts show Likud closing a gap with Blue and White despite party leader Benjamin Netanyahu being officially indicted Tuesday.

Polls from both Channels 12 and 13 give Blue and White 35 seats and Likud with 33-34 seats.

A poll from Kan gives Blue and White 34 seats and Likud 33.

Previous polls had shown Blue and White opening up a 3-4 seat lead over Likud.

The polls give the Joint List 12-14 seats, and all other parties 7-8 seats, though Channel 13 puts Labor-Gesher-Meretz at 10 seats.

The results, however, show the deadlock between Likud’s right-religious bloc and a Blue and White-led center-left-Arab block tied at 56-57 apiece, with Yisrael Beytenu remaining the tie-breaker.

The Channel 12 poll also finds that 52 percent of Israelis do not think Netanyahu can run the country while dealing with a criminal trial.

The Kan poll finds 48% think he cannot, versus 32% who think he can.

The Channel 13 poll finds 51% of Israelis support Israeli annexation of settlements.

In the Kan poll, that number drops to 43%.