A public opinion poll published Friday in Yediot Achronot showed that for the first time the Labor Alignment will get fewer seats in the next Knesset and will actually become the second largest party after the Likud, although the Likud will also lose some of its present seats.
The poll, generally considered reliable, was conducted among some 1200 Israelis after the government resigned. The question asked was if elections were held today, which list would you vote for? The result showed that Labor would get only 33 seats, down from its present 51; and Likud would get 36 seats, down from its present 39.
The most striking feature was that Yigal Yadin’s Democratic Movement for Change would get 18 seats, Arik Sharon’s Shlomzion would receive seven seats, Rakah would gain very little and the Arab lists would get seven seats. The Independent Liberal Party, the poll showed, would drop two of its four seats, the National Religious Party would lose one seat of its present 10 and the Free Center Party would fail to gain any seat.
Nine percent of those polled declined to reply and 27 percent said they did not know for whom they would vote. The majority of these previously voted for Labor.
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