According to the Mina Tzemach poll, published Friday morning by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the Likud party headed by Benjamin Netanyahu is narrowing the gap with Kadima part headed by Sharon, while the Labor party, headed by Peretz is dropping down.
Sharon’s Kadima party maintains its stability while the Likud is growing in strength and reducing the gap with Kadima; the Labor party continues to decline.
According to the published poll, if the Israeli elections were held today, the Kadima party will remain holding steady at 39 Knesset seats, Labor failing to 21, and the Likud growing up to 14 seats, a two-seat increase form last week’s polls.
The Labor party in Israel was affected by two main incidents which reduced the support it enjoyed; Sharon’s new party (Kadima), and the departure of Shimon Peres from the Labor party.
One of the aspects that play against Peretz in the Israeli politics is his weak security background. This issue directly affected the poll especially since security matters in Israel still stop the agenda.
The Israeli public does not view Peretz, who is well known in labor strikes, as a mach to Sharon in security matters.
Yedioth Ahronoth reported that with security matters are possibly pushing the social issues off the agenda; which means that Peretz could become an irrelevant figure.
“When asked why Peretz seems to be going nowhere, 40 percent of survey respondents said he did not have the skills necessary to assume the premiership, while 21% said he is not experience enough”, Yedioth Ahronoth added.
12% of the surveyed Israelis, who said that that the wont vote for the Labor, said that they are concerned by Peretz’ political positions. Only 6% said they disagreed with his economic stance, and 13% said Peretz’ personality was the problem.
77.9% of the polled Israelis said that a possible return of Peres to the Labor party would not influence them, while 20% said such move would reinforce their inclination to vote Labor.
20.5% of respondents said that although they have a favored party at this time, they may still change their minds by the time of the elections.
