Israel Politics: Polls remain steady, leaving Smotrich out of Knesset

By MOSHE COHEN

Published: FEBRUARY 23, 2024 09:54

A man casts his vote in the Israeli general elections, at a polling station in Jerusalem, on November 1, 2022. (photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90) — A man casts his vote in the Israeli general elections, at a polling station in Jerusalem, on November 1, 2022.

(photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

The poll shows that this week there were slight deviations of one seat among some of the parties, but no change between the blocs.

As the Gaza war continues and hostage release negotiations remain stuck, poll results remained fairly steady compared to past weeks, with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionist Party still below the electoral threshold, according to a new poll conducted by Lazar Research, led by Dr. Menachem Lazar, in collaboration with Panel4All, for Maariv on Friday.

The poll shows that this week, there were slight deviations of one seat among some of the parties but no change between the blocs, with the current coalition bloc receiving only 44 seats, compared to 67 seats for the opposition parties (excluding Hadash-Ta'al, which traditionally does not sit in governments.)

According to the poll, if elections were held today the National Unity Party would earn 39 seats (compared to 40 in the last poll), the Likud would earn 18 seats (the same as in the last poll), and Yesh Atid would earn 13 seats (one seat more than in the last poll).

Meanwhile, Yisrael Beytenu would earn 10 seats (the same as in the last poll), Otzma Yehudit would earn 10 seats (no change from the previous poll), Shas would earn 10 seats (one more than in the last poll), United Torah Judaism would earn six seats (one less than in the last poll), Hadash-Ta'al would earn five seats (the same as the last poll, Meretz would earn five seats (one more than in the last poll), and Ra'am would earn four seats (one less than in the last poll).

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends a press conference at the Finance Ministry in Jerusalem on October 19, 2023. (credit: NOAM REVKIN/FLASH90)

The Religious Zionist Party would only receive 2.9% of the vote, meaning it would not pass the electoral threshold and would be left out of the Knesset. Labor and Balad would also fail to pass the threshold.

Majority of Israelis support Gantz as prime minister

When asked who they think should be prime minister, 48% said they think War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz should be prime minister, while 32% said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should remain in the role, and 20% said they were unsure.

In the survey, which was conducted on February 21-22, 508 respondents participated, constituting a representative sample of the adult population in the State of Israel from the age of 18 and older, both Jews and Arabs. The maximum sampling error in the survey is 4.3%.