Sa’ar more fit to be PM than Netanyahu, Gantz - poll

The poll asked whether Sa’ar and Gantz had the skills needed to be prime minister.

By GIL HOFFMAN
Gideon Saar (photo credit: Courtesy)
Gideon Saar
(photo credit: Courtesy)
The public believes that Likud leadership contender Gideon Sa’ar has the fitting skills to be prime minister, while giving poor grades to Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a Smith Research poll taken for the Maariv newspaper.
The poll asked whether Sa’ar and Gantz had the skills needed to be prime minister. Among those who expressed an opinion, 58% said Sa’ar had those skills and 42% said he did not, while 48% said Gantz had those skills and 52% said he did not.
Both Gantz and Sa’ar received better results among Blue and White voters than those who cast ballots for Likud, Sa’ar’s party.
The question asked about Netanyahu was whether he could remain prime minister “in light of the current situation.” Among those who expressed an opinion, 51% said no and 49% answered affirmatively.
Other questions also revealed good news for Sa’ar. Asked if he was correct in his request for an immediate primary in Likud to avoid a third election, 71% of those who expressed an opinion said yes and 29% said no. Blue and White voters were almost three times as likely to express support for Sa’ar’s move as voters of his Likud.
The poll asked who respondents would vote for if another election were held. If Netanyahu leads Likud, it would win 33 seats, Blue and White 35, the Joint List 13, Shas and Yisrael Beytenu eight, United Torah Judaism seven, New Right six, and Labor-Gesher and the Democratic Union five each.
If Sa’ar led Likud, it would lose two seats and win 31. But the Right bloc, excluding Yisrael Beytenu, would win two more seats: 56, compared to 54 under Netanyahu.
Blue and White would win 35, the Joint List 13, Shas eight, Yisrael Beytenu and United Torah Judaism seven, New Right six, Labor-Gesher five and the Democratic Union and Union of Right-wing Parties (Bayit Yehudi and the National Union) four each.
The far-right Otzma Yehudit party did not cross the 3.5% electoral threshold regardless of who would head Likud.
The poll of 650 respondents representing a statistical sample of the adult Israeli population had was taken Tuesday and Wednesday and has a margin of error of ±3.8%.


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