Netanyahu Gets Big Post-Ceasefire and Likud Primaries bump

A week after the cease-fire in the south, which angered many Likud voters, and 24 hours after the  Likud primaries for the next Knesset, Likud Beiteinu's lead is growing and moving closer to 40 seats, according to the latest Haaretz/Dialog poll. Tzipi Livni who announced today the formation of her new party called "The Movement" would get only 7 seats, if elections were held today.

Overall, the Likud-led right-wing bloc would receive 69 seats, compared to only 51 seats to the center-left, including the 11 Arab seats.

The survey, supervised by Prof. Camil Fuchs of Tel Aviv University's Department of Statistics, shows that the public certainly does not consider Livni an alternative to Netanyahu. Sixty-six percent see Netanyahu as premier material, compared to only 21 percent who say the same about Livni. 

Haaretz's Yossi Verter sums up Livni's cold reception well.  "The name of Livni's new party means "the movement" in Hebrew, but at the moment the only movement Livni is generating - in terms of shifting votes from the opposing bloc - is backwards."