The right-wing Otzma Yehudit party has fallen to its lowest level in the polls since last November”s Knesset election, barely crossing the electoral threshold in the latest survey.
According to the new poll, conducted by Panels Politics and published by Ma”ariv Friday morning, if new elections were held today, Otzma Yehudit would narrowly cross the 3.25% minimum threshold with just four seats.
The party won six seats last November as part of a joint ticket with the Religious Zionist Party and Noam, and polled at seven seats earlier this year.
Support for the joint rightist ticket fell by one-third, the poll found, with just two-thirds of voters who backed the Religious Zionist Party-Noam-Otzma Yehudit ticket last November saying they would vote for the constituent parties again.
The poll also found National Unity party chief and former Defense Minister Benny Gantz the leading candidate for prime minister, beating incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time. Forty-four percent of respondents said they favored Gantz as premier, compared to just 37% who preferred Netanyahu.
Support for Netanyahu”s coalition has plummeted, with the constituent parties receiving a total of just 51 seats, compared to the 64 they won last November.
The previous Panels Politics poll, released in late March, showed the Coalition with a total of 56 seats, including six for Otzma Yehudit.
The Likud fell in the newest poll to 26 seats, down from 32 in the current Knesset and 28 in the previous poll.
The haredi factions Shas and United Torah Judaism received nine and seven seats respectively, while the Religious Zionist Party received five seats.
Avidgor Liberman”s Yisrael Beytenu party would retain its six seats if new elections were held today, the poll found, while the National Unity party would more than double its strength from 12 seats to 26.
Yesh Atid, the second largest faction in the Knesset, fell from 24 seats in last November”s election to 19 in the poll.
Labor, Meretz, and the United Arab List (Ra”am) all received four seats in the poll, barely crossing the electoral threshold.
The Hadash-Ta”al joint list received six seats, while the Arab nationalist Balad faction received just 2.3% in the poll, below the 3.25% minimum threshold.