Support for Kadima and Labor nose-dives

By JPOST.COM STAFF
A new Smith Institute poll for The Jerusalem Post shows a major shift in support among Israeli Jewish voters away from the main coalition parties and into the "undecided" and "not voting" camp. The survey, carried out on Tuesday and Wednesday, asked: If Knesset elections were held today, for which party would you vote? An unusually large 26 percent said they were undecided, a further 16% said they would not vote and 6% refused to answer. The parties receiving the highest percentage of support were Israel Beiteinu (8.5%) and the Likud 8.3% - a slightly higher proportion of the vote than each gained in the last Knesset elections. Shas (6%), Meretz (4%) and United Torah Judaism (3.5%) all polled very close to their showing in the elections. Support for the National Union/NRP dropped slightly, to 4.3%. By contrast, support for the coalition parties Kadima, Labor and the Pensioners has declined sharply since the elections, according to the poll. Kadima is supported by just 6.5%, Labor by 6% and the Pensioners by 2%. Over 70% of those who said they had voted for the Pensioners, nearly 60% of those who said they had voted for Kadima, and nearly 40% of those who said they had voted Labor in the elections were either undecided or would not vote now. The poll, among a representative sample of 500 persons of voting age, had a sampling error of 4.5%.