Poll: Netanyahu’s Likud enjoys boost amid Iran war, but not enough to clinch election win |
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party is enjoying a boost in popularity amid the US-Israeli war in Iran, but his bloc would not gain seats if elections were held today, as Likud’s rise appeared to come at the expense of other coalition parties, according to a poll conducted this week for Zman Yisrael, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister site.
According to the poll, the first since the start of the war on Saturday, Netanyahu’s Likud would receive 31 of the Knesset’s 120 seats if elections were held today, up from 27 in the previous week’s poll.
However, the boost came as Likud’s coalition partners declined in the poll. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit, for example, dropped from eight seats last week to six in this week’s poll.
The ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism also lost one seat each, falling to nine and seven seats respectively.
As in previous weeks, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party was projected in Thursday’s poll to fall below the minimum electoral threshold, leaving it out of the Knesset.
Among anti-Netanyahu parties, Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar also enjoyed a boost, rising to a projected 14 seats, up from 12 the week prior and nine two weeks ago.
But similar to Likud, Eisenkot’s gains........