More Israelis prefer to have their fifth election in three and a half years, rather than the current government continuing, or the formation of a new government from within the current Knesset, according to a Panels Research poll taken Wednesday for Maariv.
Thirty-nine percent of respondents said they preferred to have a new election, 28% said they want the current government to continue, 19% want a new government in the current Knesset, and 14% said they do not know.
Among those who would vote for parties in the opposition if an election would be held now, 68% prefer an election, 24% a new government without going to the polls, 1% the current government, and 7% do not know.
Voters who back parties in the current coalition overwhelmingly want it to stay in power – 71% – compared with 11% who want an election, 10% for a new government in the current Knesset, and 8% who do not know.
Preliminary polling for hypothetical election
If an election were held now, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud would win 34 seats and his allies in the Religious Zionist Party, Shas and United Torah Judaism 11, eight and seven seats respectively. The 60 seats would be one short of having enough to form a right-wing government.
Yesh Atid would win 21 seats, Blue and White eight, Joint List seven, Labor six, Yamina five, Yisrael Beytenu five, New Hope four and Ra’am (United Arab List) four. Meretz would not cross the electoral threshold.
The bill that broke
The poll found that voters of opposition parties were divided over how to handle the Judea and Samaria Emergency bill, a directive giving Israel legal jurisdiction over Israelis living in the West Bank that has been approved every five years since 1967. The security establishment has warned that not passing the bill by the June 30 deadline could cause chaos over the Green Line.
Among the voters of Likud and its satellite parties, 42% backed defeating the bill, as the parties did on Monday, 20% wanted the bill passed, and 38% said they do not know.
The poll of 519 respondents representing a statistical sample of the adult Israeli population was taken on Wednesday. It has a margin of error of 4.3%.