Poll: Netanyahu's Likud Party Trails Gantz's Blue and White by 6 Seats

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party trails Benny Gantz's Blue and White party by six seats, 37 to 31, according to a poll published by the Israel Hayom newspaper over the weekend.

The survey was conducted just days after no one met the deadline for forming a coalition, forcing the country into its third election in the last year. In the last election, held in September, Blue and White won 33 seats and the Likud took 32.

Other results from the survey include:

• The other parties obtaining seats in the poll are the Joint Arab List with 14, Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beytenu Party and Shas with eight each, United Torah Judaism with seven, Labor-Gesher with six, the New Right with five, and the Democratic Union with four.
• The right-wing bloc would win 51 seats, without Yisrael Beytenu, and the left-wing bloc would earn 47, without the Joint Arab List.
• Sixty percent said the political stalemate would not make them change their vote, 27% said they were reconsidering the issue, and 13% said they plan to change their vote in March.
• Forty-two percent said Netanyahu is most suited for the role of prime minister, while 40% said Gantz is. Eighteen percent said they had no opinion.
• Forty-three percent said Netanyahu was to blame for another round of elections, while 30% blamed Lieberman. Only 5% said Gantz was at fault, with 3% blaming Blue and White co-founder Yair Lapid.

The survey was conducted among 500 respondents comprising a representative sample of Israelis 18 and over. The statistical margin of error is 4.4 percentage points.

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