Donald Trump's peace plan fails to boost Likud ahead of elections – poll
In addition, 53% of respondents said that indicted Netanyahu can’t be prime minister
By GIL HOFFMANIF IT takes another round of elections to get the Likud to act, let it be. (photo credit: REUTERS)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not succeed in using this week’s news events to bring the Likud a major boost, according to a poll taken for The Jerusalem Post and Maariv.The poll was taken on Wednesday in the aftermath of Netanyahu’s success at bringing about US President Donald Trump’s “Deal of the Century” Middle East peace plan and the release of Naama Issachar from a Russian prison. Netanyahu also succeeded in shifting the public’s attention away from his indictment on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust on Tuesday, and the rescinding of his request for immunity from prosecution.But, like other polls that were broadcast on Wednesday night on three channels, support for Likud did not rise significantly. The poll, which was taken by Panels Research, found that if the March 2 election would be held today, Likud would win 33 seats, three less than Blue and White.The last Panel’s poll, which was published by Walla last Friday, predicted 35 seats for Blue and White and 32 for Likud.The new poll predicted 13 seats for the Joint List; eight each for Shas, United Torah Judaism (UTJ) and Yisrael Beytenu; and seven each for Yamina and Labor-Gesher-Meretz. The blocs would be 56 each on the Center-Right and Center-Left, with Yisrael Beytenu’s eight seats holding the balance of power.The voters who said they were most determined to come out to vote were supporters of UTJ, Yamina, Blue and White and Otzma Yehudit. The only party in which less than 70% of its supporters said they were sure they would vote was Yisrael Beytenu, with 63%.The percentage of voters calling themselves undecided was 13.4%, which is low a month before an election. The party whose voters were least sure of their choice was Otzma Yehudit, while the parties whose voters were most sure of their choice were the Joint List and Shas.Like other polls that were broadcast on Wednesday, a majority of respondents said Netanyahu cannot remain in his post due to his criminal indictments. The percentage who said he could not was 53%, while 39% said he could and 8% said they did not know.UTJ and Shas voters were the most likely to say Netanyahu could keep his job despite the indictment that was filed on Tuesday. The parties whose supporters were least likely to say Netanyahu could keep his post were Labor-Gesher-Meretz, Blue and White, the Joint List and Yisrael Beytenu.Asked about Trump’s plan, 40% said it was good for Israel, 16% said it was bad for Israel, 3% said it was good for the Palestinians, 14% said it was bad for the Palestinians and 27% said it was good for both sides.
UTJ, Yamina and Likud supporters were most likely to call the plan good for Israel. Otzma Yehudit and Labor-Gesher-Meretz voters were most likely to call the plan bad for Israel.Regarding applying Israeli law to the Jordan Valley and other parts of Judea and Samaria before the election, 46% said they were in favor, 31% said they opposed the move and 23% had no opinion.Also, Otzma Yehudit would win 2.6% of the vote and fall below the 3.25% electoral threshold.Netanyahu’s son Yair posted a message on Twitter on Thursday urging right-wing voters not to cast ballots for Otzma Yehudit, which he wrote had no chance of crossing the electoral threshold. Otzma leader Itamar Ben-Gvir responded on Twitter that only his party would stop Yair’s father from forming a Palestinian state.The poll of 537 respondents, representing a statistical sample of the adult population, had a margin of error of 4.4%.
