Ahead of Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit's decision to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on corruption charges, some 64% of Israelis said a decision on the matter will not affect how they will vote if a third general election is called, a poll commissioned by Israel Hayom found.
Eighteen percent said that if Netanyahu faces criminal charges they would not vote for Likud, while 4% said they would definitely vote for Likud if the prime minister was indicted.
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The poll, held just before Mendelblit made his announcement, was conducted by the Maagar Mochot polling institute among 500 respondents comprising a representative sample of Israelis 18 and over. The statistical margin of error is 4.3 percentage points.
Among Likud voters, 9% said that if Netanyahu was indicated they would not vote for the Likud. Still, 13% said the decision would encourage them to vote for Likud once again, and 17% had yet to form an opinion.
Most of the respondents who said that the indictment would prevent them from voting for Netanyahu identified as left-wing voters.
This means that while about 10% of Likud voters may change their vote following Mendelblit's decision, the number of undecided voters and those who are confident that this will brace their support for Likud is something in which Netanyahu can find comfort.
With respect to the political blocs, the gap between the Right and the Left has narrowed: The poll predicted that the Right will secure 56 Knesset seats should a third election be called, and the Center-Left bloc, including the Joint Arab List, would win 57 seats.
Likud would win 33 mandates, Blue and White 34, and Yisrael Beytenu would fall from its current nine seats to seven.
Asked who they believe is most suited to serve as prime minister, 44% of the respondents chose Netanyahu and 37% named Blue and White leader Benny Gantz.
However, 34% said they blame Netanyahu for the fact the efforts to form a new government have failed. Some 31% said Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman, who refused to endorse neither Likud nor Blue and White, was at fault; and only 4% said Gantz was to blame.
Nine percent said they believe Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid – Blue and White's co-founder – prevent Gantz from moving ahead in the coalition talks; 2% blamed ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism, and 20% noted they had no opinion on the matter.
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