Canceling Gantz-Lapid rotation won't help Center-Left bloc - poll

72% of Israelis support putting cameras in polling stations, survey finds.

By LAHAV HARKOV
Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz with Yair Lapid, 2019. (photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI)
Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz with Yair Lapid, 2019.
(photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI)
If Blue and White canceled the rotation between Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid for the party’s leadership, it would not increase support for the Center-Left bloc, a Maariv-Radio 103 poll has found.
In a survey on the parties as they are today – meaning with the Gantz-Lapid rotation – Likud and Blue and White are tied at 32 seats.
Next is Yisrael Beytenu with 10 seats, Yamina and the Joint List tied with nine, Shas with eight, UTJ and Democratic Union with seven and Labor-Gesher with six.
Without a rotation in Blue and White, the party would receive 33 seats, and Labor-Gesher would lose one.
In both versions, the Right bloc received 56 seats and the Center-Left 45. Other polls released Thursday night, on Channels 12 and 13 and the Knesset Channel, put the Right-Left divide at 56-45, 56-43, and 60-41, respectively. The remaining seats go to Yisrael Beytenu – which has not committed to recommend a particular candidate – and the Joint List, which is unlikely to recommend anyone.
Otzma Yehudit, with 2.5%, was the only party to receive over 1% of the vote in the Maariv poll and not pass the 3.25% electoral threshold. The far-right party has only cleared the threshold in one published poll in this election cycle.
Of the respondents, 14% were undecided.
In addition, the vast majority – 72% – of respondents support bringing cameras into polling stations, while only 19% oppose it and 9% do not know.
The poll was conducted on September 4-5 by Smith Consulting among 650 people making up a representative sample of Israeli adults. They responded online and on the phone. The margin of error is ±3.9%.