Poll: Netanyahu wins if direct elections are held

But if an election for the entire Knesset were to take place, Blue and White would win one more seat in the Israeli parliament than Netanyahu’s Likud party.

By World Israel News Staff 

Benjamin Netanyahu would remain in the Prime Minister’s Office if a direct election for the premiership were to be held between the incumbent and challenger MK Benny Gantz, leader of Blue and White, according to a Channel 13 poll.

If an election for the entire Knesset were to take place again, Blue and White would win one more seat in the Israeli parliament than Netanyahu’s Likud party, according to the poll.

The results of this poll represent the same trend which has existed over the past several months of Blue and White at equal or greater strength than the Likud in parliament but Netanyahu preferred over Gantz among the public to serve as prime minister.

In the April Knesset election, Blue and White finished tied with the Likud for the number of mandates, and in the September election, Blue and White finished ahead of the Likud by one seat.

The larger problem is that Netanyahu could not garner a parliamentary majority to form a government after the April ballot, leading to the September vote, after which both Netanyahu and Gantz have been unable so far to form a governing coalition.

Amid the ongoing deadlock, a proposal has been made to hold an election just for prime minister – Gantz against Netanyahu – while leaving the current composition of the Knesset intact.

In the Channel 13 poll, Netanyahu was preferred as prime minister by 40 percent compared to 37 percent who said that they would vote for Gantz.

Thirteen percent of the respondents said that they would not vote for anyone. Nine percent replied that they were undecided.

The survey showed that if another full parliamentary election were to take place, the result would again be that neither the right-wing bloc nor the left-wing bloc would have an assured majority to form a government coalition in the 120-seat Israeli parliament.