Polls: Gantz Sinks to New Low, Former Blue and White Partners Surge

Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party continued its decline in public opinion polls on Sunday, dipping into the single-digits zone. According to the Channel 13 poll, the party, which at one point just a few months ago managed to best the Likud in an actual election, would receive just 9 parliamentary seats if elections were held today. Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud would net 38 seats, while Gantz’s former partner and current head of the opposition Yair Lapid would receive 16 seats. The numbers continue to raise doubts as to whether or not Netanyahu would willingly resign and hand over the reins of the government to Gantz in just over a year, as the coalition agreement mandates, or rather find an excuse to break the pact and seek re-election. Earlier this week, reports surfaced claiming high ranking Likud members were interested in striking a deal by which Gantz would be appointed Reuven Rivlin’s successor as president of Israel, clearing the way for Netanyahu’s sixth term. The reports were emphatically denied by Blue and White.