(Jpost). The Likud would win 37 seats in the next Knesset, and Labor would pass Kadima by five seats if elections were held today, according a poll by Channel 2 and the Sarid Institute for Research Services that was published on Wednesday night.
Prime Minister Netanyahu's party would gain ten seats in the next election, despite recent social protests. The pollsters explained that the bump was most likely due to the prisoner exchange in which Gilad Schalit was released from Hamas captivity.
The poll also showed that Kadima would shrink from 28 to 17 MKs, possibly because of party leader Tzipi Livni's criticism of the Schalit deal.
Labor, under the new leader Shelly Yacimovich, would become the second-biggest faction in the Knesset, with 22 mandates as opposed to the current eight. The party won 13 seats in the previous election, but five MKs separated to form the Independence party, led by Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Israel Beiteinu would remain with the 15 Knesset seats it currently has.
Netanyahu also led in responses to the question "Who is most suited to be Prime Minister?" with 41 percent. Yacimovich received 15%, while Kadima leader Tzipi Livni tied with Lieberman for nine percent