A new election poll carried out by the Midgam Institute for Channel 2’s “Meet the Press” show indicated a strengthening of the Likud party for the first time in six months. The poll would confirm Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s stronghold on the Israeli public’s trust and support.  

Yesh Atid’s chairman Yair Lapid had been leading multiple polls in recent months and claimed he was the only promising candidate to replace Netanyahu.

But according to this latest poll, the Yesh Atid party is down to 24 mandates or seats while Likud rose to 28 if elections were held in Israel today.

The poll also showed that former Defence Minister Moshe (Boogie) Yaalon, who had recently declared his intention to launch a new political party and run for the position of prime minister, would not even pass the elections threshold of 3.25%.

The third-largest party according to the poll is the Joint [Arab] List with 13 mandates, while the former Labor Party, now known as Zionist Union, would decrease from 24 to just 12 mandates. Nafatli Bennett’s Bayit Yehudi [Jewish Home] party would improve slightly from 8 to 10 seats, and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon’s party Kulanu, as well as Shas and United Torah Judaism, would each receive seven. Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beytenu and Meretz would both receive six mandates.