Likud poll: Benjamin Netanyahu beats Gideon Sa'ar

The poll further reveals that Sa'ar is the leading candidate to take the prime minister's place after he steps down, but gets fewer votes in his spat with Nir Barkat.

By MAARIV ONLINE
Gideon Saar (photo credit: Courtesy)
Gideon Saar
(photo credit: Courtesy)
In a poll done by the Direct Polls company, which was presented by Before the News on Channel 13, it was found that 53% of Likud members will support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the upcoming primaries for the Likud leadership, while Gideon Sa'ar was supported by 40%. The poll consisted of 1,513 party members.
One of the owners of the company that did the poll is Shlomo Filber, who is now a state witness against Netanyahu.
When asked who should lead the Likud when Netanyahu resigns or finishes his term as head of the Likud, Sa'ar won a significant degree of support with 39.4%, followed by former Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat with 23.6%, MK Israel Katz with 6.2%, Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein with 4.4%, and Miri Regev getting 2.3%. The remaining 18.6% have yet to decide who they would support.
 
When asked who they support in the recent spat between Gideon Sa'ar and Nir Barkat, 48.5% expressed their support for Barkat, while 41.9% support Sa'ar.