Polls predict a second stalemate

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party will emerge the largest in Tuesday’s election, a Smith Research poll taken for Maariv found on Thursday.

The poll of 603 respondents – representing a statistical sample of the Israeli population – predicted 33 seats for Likud, 32 for Blue and White, 12 for the Joint List, nine for Yamina, nine for Yisrael Beytenu, eight for Shas, seven for UTJ, six for the Democratic Union and four for Labor.

According to the poll, the Right-Center bloc will win 57 seats while the Center-Left bloc will garner 54. Yisrael Beytenu, whose leader Avigdor Liberman has hinted that he will recommend Blue and White leader Benny Gantz to form a government, could put him over the top if the Joint List also recommends him.

Netanyahu’s bloc fared slightly better in other polls broadcasted on Thursday. A poll on KAN predicted 59 seats for the Right-Center bloc, without Yisrael Beytenu, and a Knesset Channel poll predicted 60, the same number the bloc won in the April election.
The far Right Otzma Yehudit Party did not cross the 3.25% election threshold in the Smith poll, nor has it in any public polls taken by Smith in this election.

Some 14% of respondents said that they are undecided, and only 2/3 of respondents said that they were sure of their vote.
The poll had an error margin of ±4%.