Poll indicates Likud will be better off without Netanyahu
Channel 10 survey: Sa’ar is favored candidate to replace him
By GIL HOFFMANUpdated: AUGUST 8, 2017 02:14Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures during his victory speech at Likud headquarters(photo credit: REUTERS)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s departure from politics due to criminal investigations against him could end up helping his Likud Party, a Statnet poll taken for Channel 10 found Sunday.Two-thirds of respondents said that if an indictment is issued, Netanyahu should quit. Twenty-one percent said, he should not, and 13% said they did not know.The poll found that if elections were held now and Netanyahu remained the head of the Likud, his party would win 27 seats under his leadership, Zionist Union 22, Yesh Atid 18, Joint List 11, Bayit Yehudi nine, Yisrael Beytenu eight, Kulanu and United Torah Judaism seven each, Shas six, and Meretz five.But if the Likud was led by one of its other leaders, the poll predicted it would win four additional seats and end up with 31, one more than Netanyahu won at the helm of the party two years ago.The Zionist Union would win 20 mandates, Yesh Atid 16, Joint List 11, Bayit Yehudi 10, Yisrael Beytenu eight, Kulanu and United Torah Judaism seven each, and Shas and Meretz five each.When asked who would be most fit to lead the Right if Netanyahu does not run, 23% chose his former number two in the Likud, former minister Gideon Sa’ar, who fared much better than any other candidate.Eleven percent said Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett, nine percent Yisrael Beytenu head Avigdor Liberman, six percent Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, five percent Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, and four percent Transportation Minister Israel Katz.The poll of 751 respondents representing a statistical sample of the adult Israeli population was conducted by Prof. Camille Fuchs and had an margin of error of 3.6%.
