Poll: Lapid gaining support, Netanyahu losing power
Decline in public's trust in the prime minister and the Likud continues as survey shows the ruling party dropping from 30 seats to 23, while Yesh Atid jumps to 20 seats.
A poll ordered by Moshe Kahlon's Kulanu party shows that MK Yair Lapid's party Yesh Atid is garnering more and more support, while the Likud party is losing its power.
According to the poll, conducted three weeks ago, if elections were held today, the ruling Likud party would get 23 of the Knesset's 120 seats, a major drop from the 30 it current holds. Meanwhile, Lapid's party would get 20 seats, a significant hike to the 11 it currently has.
The leading opposition party, Zionist Union, would drop from 24 seats to only 16, Bayit Yehudi would jump from 8 seats to 13, while Kahlon's Kulanu would lose only one seat, going from the 10 it currently has to 9.
Yisrael Beytenu would get 8 seats, two more than what it currently has, while Meretz would get 7, United Torah Judaism and Shas will each get 6, and the Joint Arab List will get 12.
At such a situation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not be able to form a government with his current partners, as his 61 MKs coalition drops to 57 MKs and fails to reach the majority needed in the Knesset to maintain stability.
The poll was conducted by the American institute 202 Strategies among 1,043 eligible voters in Israel.
A poll conducted by Dr. Mina Tzemach and Mano Geva of the Midgam Institute for Yedioth Ahronoth a month ago showed similar results. The Likud party would drop to 25 seats, Bayit Yehudi would rise to 12 seats, United Torah Judaism would get 7 seats while Shas would get 6, and Kulanu would drop to 7. This once again brings the coalition parties to only 57 seats, four seats shy of the majority they need.
Another recent poll from earlier this week, ordered by Channel 2, showed that 68 percent of Israelis were not happy with the way Netanyahu has been handling the ongoing wave of terrorism.
The poll also found that a third of Israelis (30 percent) believe Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman is the right man to handle Israel's security and terror problems. Fifteen percent think former IDF chief Gabi Ashkenazi is the man for the job, while 13 percent believe Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett is best suited to deal with matters of security.
