Poll: Gap between Huldai and Zamir narrows to 3.5%
Huldai at advantage among definite voters while Zamir has more support among the undecided.
By TAMARA ZIEVEUpdated: OCTOBER 25, 2018 19:48THE TEL AVIV skyline(photo credit: REUTERS)
The battle over the Tel Aviv mayorship is an increasingly close one, as the gap between Mayor Ron Huldai and his deputy Asaf Zamir narrowed even further, according to a poll conducted for Maariv’s local magazine “Hamekoman,” published on Thursday.Just 5 days before the local elections, the poll, which was conducted by the Panels Politics Internet Panel Surveys company, found that in response to the question “who will you vote for of mayor of Tel Aviv-Jaffa,” 27.6% selected Huldai (Tel Aviv 1) and 23.9% Zamir (Rov Ha’ir), followed by 10.1% for Assaf Harel (Anachnu Ha’ir).Of those who are certain they will vote, 33.6% will opt for Huldai, as well as 17.3% of those who are undecided if they will vote. Some 26.8% of definite voters will choose Zamir, as well as 18.8% of the undecided. Meanwhile, Harel got 11.5% of support from definite voters and 7.9% from the undecided.The fourth most popular candidate, deputy mayor Natan Elnatan (Shas), received 5.6% of the backing of all respondents, among them 5.2% will definitely vote and 6.3% who aren’t sure.A high rate of all respondents, 32.8% have yet to decide for whom to vote. A 22.9% are sure they will vote, and among those who are unsure it is 49.7%.Additionally, 56.4% of all respondents said they are sure they will vote and 24.4% said they probably will, while 11.5% said they probably won’t and 7.8% said they definitely won’t.The poll also asked respondents: “If there will be a second round of mayoral elections between Ron Huldai and Asaf Zamir, who will you vote for?” If neither candidate gets at least 40% of the vote, a second round will be held.In this scenario, Zamir would win with 33.6% of the vote of all respondents, with Huldai behind with 32%. That, however, depends on how many of the undecided actually vote, because Huldai got 38% of the support of those who will definitely vote and 22.5% of the undecided, while Zamir got 35.9% of the decided and 30% of the undecided.The poll was conducted over the Internet between October 19 and 22. Some 512 respondents, representing a sample of the residents of the city of the age 17 and over, participated in the poll. The margin of error is 4.4 ±%.Hamekoman quoted CEO of Panels Politics Menachem Lazar as saying: “The bottom line is that in order for Zamir to win, he needs to get as many voters as possible out of the house, while for Huldai it’s preferable that as few as possible vote.”
