Poll indicates Gantz losing support over unity deal with Netanyahu
Blue and White leader Benny Gantz appears to be losing support among those who voted for him amid a perception he made too many concessions in the deal signed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a poll published Friday.
The Channel 12 poll found that among center-left voters, only 43% support the deal. This was down from a similar poll conducted by Channel 13 earlier in the week that found 57% of Blue and White voters were in favor of the deal.
Overall, a slight majority of the public — 56 percent — supported the unity coalition agreement inked earlier this week between the Likud and Blue and White parties, while 29% oppose the deal, according to the Channel 12 poll.
This support rose to 67% among center-right voters, the poll found.
Despite running on a campaign to oust Netanyahu from power, Gantz announced last month that he was prepared to join a government with the Likud leader after all — to battle the coronavirus and help protect Israeli democracy.
His move caused a split in his party, with former partners Yair Lapid and Moshe Ya’alon breaking away. Lapid is now set to lead the Knesset opposition.
Under the terms of the deal struck Monday, which will end over a year of political deadlock during which Israel has not had a permanent government, Gantz will become prime minister in 18 months. Until then, he will serve as defense minister and have veto power over most legislative and policy matters.
Part of the reason for the drop in support for Gantz’s decision comes from a perception that he gave up too much in the talks and a belief that Netanyahu probably won’t honor the rotation deal.
Fifty-two percent of those polled said Gantz compromised more to form the unity government, while just 17% said Netanyahu gave up more. Among voters who identified as center-left specifically, 72% said Gantz gave up more. That figure dropped to 40% among center-right identifying voters, according to the Channel 12 poll.
Only 38% of respondents believe Netanyahu will honor the rotation deal requiring him to vacate the Prime Minister’s Office in 18 months in order for Gantz to take his place. Forty-five percent of respondents said they do not believe he will do so, while 17% said they were unsure.
Sixty-eight percent of the public said that the government’s response to the coroanvirus pandemic have been appropriate, while 15% said they have been insufficient and 14% said they have been too extreme. At the same time, 48% of respondents said that the government’s handling of the economic crisis caused by the pandemic has been “overall good,” as opposed to 45% who responded that the handling has been “overall bad.”
Asked what clause in the Likud-Blue and White deal that made them most uncomfortable, 37% said it was the large number of ministers (36), 21% said it was its green-lighting of Netanyahu remaining premier despite the indictments against him, 11% said it was the deal’s allowing of Health Minister Yaakov Litzman to remain in his post, despite immense public criticism and allegations of gross misconduct, 11% said it was its authorization of a costly two official prime ministerial residences for Netanyahu and Gantz, 10% said they were not bothered by any aspect of the deal and 3% said it was its maintaining of existing legislation regulating the draft of ultra-Orthodox men to the army.
A margin of error for the survey was not immediately available.