Polls show double digits for Bennett-Shaked 'Hayemin Hehadash' party

Hayemin Hehadash expected to finish in double-figures.

By GIL HOFFMAN
Updated: DECEMBER 31, 2018 09:26
Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett gestures during a preliminary vote on a bill at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem November 16, 2016 (photo credit: REUTERS/AMMAR AWAD)
Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett gestures during a preliminary vote on a bill at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem November 16, 2016
(photo credit: REUTERS/AMMAR AWAD)
Former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz is seen by Israelis as almost as fit to be prime minister as incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a Midgam poll broadcast Sunday night on Hadashot news.
When asked who they prefer to see as prime minister after the April 9 election, 36% said Netanyahu and 29% said Gantz, even though the leader of the new Hosen L’Israel (Israel Resilience) Party has not yet revealed his opinion on any issue.
Twenty-four percent said they wanted neither of them, and 11% said they did not know. The poll included 510 respondents and represented a statistical sample of the Israeli population. The margin of error was ± 4.4%.
Hosen L’Israel would be Israel’s largest new party, according to all but one of five snap polls taken on Sunday by media outlets, following the formation of the new Hayemin Hehadash Party formed Saturday night by former Bayit Yehudi leaders Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked.
Polls taken for Makor Rishon and KAN predicted 14 seats for Hayemin Hehadash, a Walla! News poll gave it 10, Channel 10’s poll eight and News Channel’s survey only six.
Hosen L’Israel received between 11 and 14 seats in the polls. The Likud ranged between 25 and 30 mandates.
The Joint List was consistent at 12 or 13, Yesh Atid ranged between 10 and 16, and the Zionist Union was predicted to win nine seats in all polls but Channel 10’s, which predicted eight seats, one-third of the 24 it has now. Every poll predicted seven seats for United Torah Judaism and five or six for Meretz.
The polls predicted that without Shaked and Bennett, Bayit Yehudi would have a difficult time crossing the 3.25% electoral threshold. Other parties teetering near the threshold include Shas, Yisrael Beytenu, the new Gesher party of MK Orly Levy-Abecassis and Kulanu, without departing MKs Yoav Gallant and Michael Oren.