Half of “Israelis” Don’t Want Netanyahu as PM, Latest Poll Shows

By Staff, Haaretz

A week after newly-appointed “Israeli” military chief Benny Gantz’s maiden speech ahead of the April 9 election swept away the center-left and sent the new candidate soaring in the polls, the “Gantz effect” seems not to be fading, but neither is it gathering momentum with two months to go before the election, Haaretz reported.

An opinion poll conducted by the “Israeli” paper and Dialog asking “Israelis” if they want current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to remain in his post came up with the following:

1. Netanyahu is losing his advantage over his main rival. They are statistically tied as far as who the public believes will better handle security. That means that Gantz’s campaign will only be about security. On issues like the economy and foreign affairs, in which Netanyahu has him beat, he has nothing to sell.

2. A significant number [47 percent] of those asked do not want to see Netanyahu as prime minister for a fifth term. This is a greater majority than the right-wing camp has, which means that the strength of the entire camp as an electoral brand outstrips that of its leader. That is the opposite of the message Netanyahu is trying to send — that without him there is no right wing and no government.

3. The same number [46 percent] does not agree with Netanyahu that “the game is rigged” and that the attorney general has surrendered to pressure from the left and the media.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s nightmare scenario is that the votes for one or two of his “natural partners” fall below the electoral threshold.