Labor takes three-seat lead over Likud in latest 'Post' poll

Both Labor and Bayit Yehudi received boosts from their primaries this week.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog casts his ballot in the primary (photo credit: COURTESY LABOR-HATNUA)
Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog casts his ballot in the primary
(photo credit: COURTESY LABOR-HATNUA)
The combined Labor-Hatnua list would win three more Knesset seats than the Likud, 25 to 22, if the election were held now, according to a Panels Research poll taken for The Jerusalem Post and its Hebrew sister publication, Maariv Sof Hashavua.
Both Labor and Bayit Yehudi received boosts from their primaries this week. Bayit Yehudi would win 17 seats, Yesh Atid and a potential united Arab list 11 each, Koolanu nine, United Torah Judaism seven, and Meretz, Yisrael Beytenu and Shas six each.
The poll asked about former Shas chairman Eli Yishai’s Yahad Ha’am Itanu, the Jewish Strength party of former MK Michael Ben-Ari, and Green Leaf; none passed the 3.25% electoral threshold that is expected to require some 125,000 votes in the March 17 election.
When respondents were asked how Tuesday’s Labor primary impacted the chance that they would vote for the party, 24 percent said it increased the likelihood that they would cast ballots for the Labor-Hatnua joint list that will be called Hamahane Hatzioni (“Zionist Camp”) in Hebrew but has not been given a name in English.
Thirteen percent said the Labor primary results would make it less likely they would support the party, 57% said it would have no effect, and 6% did not know.
Twenty-seven percent of respondents said the large number of female candidates on the candidates list increased the likelihood they would vote for the party. Asked if the list was more left- or right-wing, 48% said Left, 4% said Right, 37% equally so, and 11% did not know. Sixty-four percent said Labor-Hatnua did not represent their views on diplomatic and security issues and 28% said it did. But on socioeconomic issues, 44% said it does represent them and 49% said it did not.
Panels has been asking whether respondents want Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to remain in his post after the election. In Thursday’s poll, 58% said “no,” up from 51% two weeks ago but below the peak of 66% on December 11.
Fifty-four percent said Netanyahu represented Israel well in France last this week, 32% said he did not, and 14% had no opinion. A majority said it was right of Netanyahu to call for French Jews to make aliya, even if the French government does not approve of such statements.
The poll of 511 respondents representing a sample of the Israeli adult population was taken Wednesday. It has a margin of error of +- 4.5%.