Poll: Huldai will handily beat any other Tel Aviv mayoral candidate

Jerusalem race tight between three candidates.

By TAMARA ZIEVE
Updated: AUGUST 15, 2018 04:29
Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai (photo credit: FACEBOOK)
Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai
(photo credit: FACEBOOK)
If the Tel Aviv municipal elections were held today, incumbent mayor Ron Huldai would easily beat any other candidate, according to the findings of a Channel 2 poll released Monday night.
70 days before the local elections, the poll found Huldai would take 45% of the votes. Trailing behind him with 14% is Zionist Union MK Stav Shaffir who has not announced her candidacy, but is said to be considering it.
Deputy Mayor Asaf Zamir came in third with 10%, followed by TV personality Assaf Harel who tied with Haredi candidate Natan Elnatan, the Shas representative in the municipality, who also serves as deputy mayor.
City councilwoman Meital Lehavi (Meretz) and Zippi Brand Frank (Simu Lev Horim) got just 1% and 2%, respectively.
Meanwhile in Jerusalem, where the incumbent mayor Nir Barkat is not running again, poll results were much closer, particularly between three candidates. Deputy Mayor Yossi Daitch, from the United Torah Judaism list and representing the Hassidim in the party, took a slim majority of the votes with 23% up against another deputy mayor, Ofer Berkowitz (Hitorerut), who got 22%. Just behind him, is Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin with 21%.
There is a significant gap in the popularity of those three candidates with the other mayoral hopefuls. In the poll, Deputy Mayor Moshe Lion got 11%, Kulanu MK Rachel Azaria 6% and Yossi Havilio 4%. Lastly, the poll found that Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem Chaim Epstein, who is a member of the Bnei Torah political party that represents the Jerusalem Faction, would get 3%, and former Jerusalem city attorney Avi Salman just 1%.