‘Post’ poll finds Blue and White won’t cross threshold
Gantz: This is not going to be an easy time
By GIL HOFFMANBlue and White party leader Benny Gantz walks in the Israeli Parliament during a vote on a bill to dissolve the Parliament at the Knesset, December 02, 2020. (photo credit: ALEX KOLOMOISKY / POOL)
The Blue and White Party of Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz would not cross the 3.25% electoral threshold if the March 23 election was held now, according to a new poll conducted by Panels Research for The Jerusalem Post and Maariv newspapers.The new survey is the first by any pollster since the party’s formation two years ago to find that the party did not have enough support to enter the Knesset. There have been polls indicating that Blue and White would win the minimum four seats needed to get in, but none finding that the party would not win enough to get in, and therefore none at all.The poll predicted 29 seats for prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, 17 for Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope Party, 14 for Yesh Atid-Telem, 13 for Yamina, 11 for the Joint List, eight each for United Torah Judaism, Shas and Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai’s new Israelis Party, seven for Yisrael Beytenu and five for Meretz.Besides Blue and White, the parties that would not cross the threshold include the New Economy Party of former accountant General Yaron Zelekha, Otzma Yehudit, Labor, Gesher, Bayit Yehudi and the unnamed party of former Yesh Atid MK Ofer Shelah.Blue and White has been in a free fall in the polls over the past two weeks. A survey taken by the same pollster two weeks ago, before the Knesset was dispersed, predicted seven seats for Blue and White.Surveys taken by Panels last Thursday and another on Wednesday, following the formation of Huldai’s party, predicted four seats for Blue and White.In a speech to supporters outside his home in Rosh Ha’ayin on Wednesday night, Gantz admitted that “the reality now is harder” and “this is not going to be an easy time.”The poll of 531 respondents representing a statistical sample of the adult Israeli population was taken on Thursday and has a margin of error of ±4.3%.
