Support for Gantz Dipping as Labor Climbs in Wake of Primary, Polls Show

In public opinion polls released Sunday night by Channel 12 and Kan News in preparation for Israel's April 9 election, Benny Gantz’s party, Hosen L’Yisrael, has lost some of its strength, while the Labor Party has jumped up to 10 Knesset seats, and Orli Levi-Abekasis’ party, Gesher, doesn’t cross the electoral threshold.

The Channel 12 News poll lists the parties as follows: Likud, 30 seats; Hosen L’Yisrael, 18; Yesh Atid, 12; Labor, 10; Hayamin Hehadash, 7; United Torah Judaism, 7; Ta’al (Ahmad Tibi), 7; Shas, 6; Joint List, 5; Kulanu, 5; Meretz, 5; Yisrael Beiteinu, 4; Habayit Hayehudi-National Union, 4.

Channel 12 also examined how those surveyed would vote if there was a merger between Hosen L’Yisrael and Yesh Atid. In that case, the joint Gantz-Yair Lapid list would get 32 seats and Likud 31. Thirty-six percent of those polled said they preferred to see Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister, while 31 percent said Gantz.

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The poll was conducted Sunday by the Midgam Institute headed by Dr. Mina Tsemach and Mano Geva, in cooperation with IPanel, among 502 people representing a cross-section of Israeli society, age 18 and up. The margin of error is 4.4 percent.

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The Kan poll listed the parties as follows: Likud, 30 seats; Hosen L’Yisrael, 20; Yesh Atid, 10; Labor, 10; Hayamin Hehadash, 8; United Torah Judaism, 6; Ta’al, 6; Joint List, 6; Yisrael Beiteinu, 5; Shas 5, Meretz, 5; Habayit-Hayehudi-National Union, 5, Kulanu, 4.

This survey was taken Saturday night by Direct Polls among a sampling of 543 people among the adult Jewish and Arab population. The margin of error is 4.2 percent.