Jpost poll: Yair Lapid leads pack to replace Netanyahu, Bennett second

Behind Lapid was Bayit Yehudi chairman Naftali Bennett.

By JEREMY SHARON
Updated: JANUARY 13, 2017 07:25
Yair Lapid (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Yair Lapid
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
The public sees Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid as the most appropriate leader to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a poll conducted for The Jerusalem Post has found.
Opposition leader Isaac Herzog (Zionist Union) came in dead last among the various politicians proposed, and did not even reach the 4.5% margin of error of the poll.
Trailing Lapid were Bayit Yehudi chairman Naftali Bennett at 13%; followed by senior Likud MK Gideon Sa’ar at 10%; former defense minister and Likud MK Moshe Ya’alon at 8%; Yisrael Beytenu chairman and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman at 7%; and Herzog at 4%.
The survey was conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday by the Rafi Smith Institute on a sample of 500 Jewish Israeli adults, against the background of the police’s ongoing corruption investigation into the prime minister regarding allegedly illicit gifts he may have received as well as his alleged dealings with Yediot Aharonot publisher Arnon “Noni” Mozes.
Nineteen percent of respondents said Lapid was the person best suited to take over from Netanyahu as prime minister.
Herzog was not even the preferred candidate among those who voted Zionist Union in the last election in 2015, with 26% saying Lapid would be the most fitting replacement for Netanyahu, 18% favoring Ya’alon and 15% opting for Herzog.
However, fully 39% of all respondents answered that none of the proposed politicians was fitting to replace Netanyahu, or did not have an opinion.
Among Likud voters, 22% said that Bennett would be the best choice to serve as prime minister out of the options proffered, followed by Liberman at 14%, Ya’alon at 8%, and Sa’ar at 10%.
A poll similar to the Post’s conducted last week by Channel 2 put Lapid with 22% support, Bennett 14%, Sa’ar 10%, Ya’alon 7%, Kulanu chairman and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon 6%, Liberman 5%, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) 4%, and Herzog 4%.
Despite Lapid’s first place showing in the survey, a recent Walla poll found that Netanyahu is still the public’s first choice for prime minister in a head-to head competition with Lapid.
Walla’s poll was conducted last week under the auspices of pollster Prof. Camil Fuchs and found that 37% of the public believed Netanyahu to be best suited for the role of prime minister, compared to 33% for Lapid, while 30% did not know.
But the same poll gave Lapid’s Yesh Atid party 27 Knesset seats should an election be held now, compared with 24 seats for Netanyahu's Likud.