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Polls: In Wake of Gaza War, Coalition Retains Strong Electoral Backing

Though a poll cited by numerous commentators and experts suggests that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in political trouble due to his handling of Operation Protective Edge, a column yesterday by Shmuel Rosner argues that both Netanyahu and his coalition are in good shape politically:

[T]he first two post-war polls show strong support for his coalition and for the Israeli right (which received 55 mandates in the most recent Panels Politics poll). Naftali Bennett has been doing particularly well with 19 mandates in the latest poll (the Jewish Home would be the second largest party if elections were held today). Meanwhile, Yesh Atid, Yair Lapid’s party, doesn’t seem to be doing too well, and the Labor Party still isn’t showing any signs of getting back to being a true powerhouse.

Meanwhile, a poll conducted by Geocartography suggested that if elections were held today, Likud would dominate with 32 seats out of the Knesset’s 120, with the second-largest party being Bennett’s gaining 18, and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beitenu earning 17 — totaling 67 seats for those three parties alone. Together with Lapid’s Yesh Atid party, the current ruling coalition would hold 76 seats out of 120. (Tzipi Livni’s Hatnua party would fail to meet the threshold required for Knesset representation.)

A poll showing a drop in support for Netanyahu from 82% to the current 32% was broadcast on Israel’s Channel 2 and widely discussed both inside of Israel and internationally. Yet as The Times of Israel reports, that “Channel 2 poll results were released without information on sample size, methodology or margin of error,” and that the station offered no further clarifications of its results. I24 News cited the results of a Ha’aretz poll, on the other hand, that marked a 50% approval rating of Netanyahu. The poll further revealed that “42% of Israelis still believed Netanyahu was the politician most suited to being prime minister,” far outpacing any other potential challenger. A Dialog poll showed similar numbers to those cited by Rosner, with the ruling coalition hypothetically projected to receive 70 seats (up from 68 in the current Knesset) if elections would be held today.

[Photo: IsraeliPM / YouTube ]