Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud went up by two seats over the past week, according to a Smith Research poll taken Wednesday and Thursday for The Jerusalem Post’s Hebrew sister newspaper Maariv.
The poll of 650 respondents representing a statistical sample of the Israeli adult population found that if the April 9 election would be held now, Likud would win 29 seats, compared to 27 in a Smith poll taken for The Jpost a week ago.
Former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party remained at 30 seats, despite a week of bad coverage of a State Comptroller’s report on his bankrupt company’s contract with the police and two TV interviews that did not go well.
The poll predicted eight seats for Labor, seven each for Hadash-Ta’al and the New Right, six each for the Union of Right-wing Parties, United Torah Judasim and Shas, five for Meretz and four each for Yisrael Beytenu, Zehut, Kulanu and the United Arab-List-Balad.
MK Orly Levy-Abecassis’s Gesher party received three percent of the vote, just under the 3.25 percent electoral threshold.The Right-Center bloc had 66 seats and the Left-Center-Arab bloc 54, exactly like in the outgoing Knesset.
The margin of error was 3.9 percent in the poll, which was conducted both by telephone interviews and an Internet panel. Other polls printed in the weekend papers had different results. A Midgam poll printed in Yediot Aharonot predicted 31 seats for Blue and White and 27 for Likud.
A Ma'agar Mohot poll in Israel Hayom had Blue and White at 32 seats and Likud at 28. The poll gave the Center-Right 68 seats and Center-Left-Arab bloc 52, in part because the United Arab List-Balad did not cross the 3.25% electoral threshold.
A Direct Plus poll in the Makor Rishon newspaper predicted Likud would win the most seats, beating Blue and Wite, 30 seats to 29. Yisrael Beytenu did not cross the electoral threshold in the poll.