Poll: Netanyahu Beats Sharon

Resigned Israeli finance minister Benjamin Netanyahu would upset Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in a race for the Likud Party leadership if the party primary were held today, according to a new poll of Likud members, says a report in Haaretz.

Polls over the past year have consistently shown Sharon beating Netanyahu, but this latest tally found that in a three-way race between Sharon, Netanyahu and MK Uzi Landau, the veteran leader of the Likud anti-disengagement camp, Netanyahu would win 35 percent of the vote - compared to 29 percent for Sharon and 17 percent for Landau.

Forty percent of Likud Party members are needed to win in the first round, avoiding a runoff.

Furthermore, according to the report, if Landau were to drop out of the race, or in the event of a runoff between Sharon and Netanyahu, most of Landau's supporters would switch to Netanyahu - giving him 47 percent of the vote, to 33 percent for Sharon.

The poll reflects that a majority of Likud members view a unilateral withdrawal under fire as a violation of everything the Likud has stood for.

The poll has re-sparked speculation that Sharon may consider splitting the Likud and merging his supporters with Labor and Shinui to form a new "centrist" party.

It is believed by some that such a party could win running against a weakened, Netanyahu-led Likud.

When the right brought down Shamir we got Rabin and Oslo- more violence, more deaths less secure borders.

When the right brought down Bibi we got Barak and camp david 2 and more violence, more deaths and less secure borders.

I just hope Bibi's leaving doesn't set up the return of Peres/Beilin with not only less security , but their post zionistic anti Jewish (israeli not Jewish) ideology and schoolbooks . Right now there is talk about changing Hatikva.

Powerline
http://powerlineblog.com/archives/011303.php

August 09, 2005
Bibi watching

A new Israeli poll shows that Benjamin Netanyahu is more popular than Prime Minister Sharon among members of their party. Actually, neither seems particularly well-liked. According to the poll, 42 percent of Likud voters support Netanyahu, while only 27.7% favor Sharon. Over 15% said they were still undecided, while 10.8% declared they do not intend to vote in the next party primaries. The poll did not include Uzi Landau, who is more hard-line than Netanyahu, and who plans to chalenge Sharon and Netanyahu for leadership of the party.

Netanyahu has a big-time reputation as an opportunist. That's always been my impression too, although I don't follow Israeli politics very closely and my impression may be unduly influenced by the views of others. By opposing Sharon's withdrawal plans after voting for them in the cabinet, Netanyahu's reputation as an opportunist will grow, especially since the media both here and in Israel disagree with his position. But Netanyahu's opportunism or lack thereof is irrelevant to the merits of the withdrawal; I believe his opposition is well-justified.

Caroline Glick of the Jerusalem Post argues that Netanyahu's decision to leave the government hurts him politically, and that his decision to stay as long as he did was the responsible thing to do because it enabled him to implement unprecedentd economic reforms that will empower Israelis at the expense of the state bureaucracy. Her first point is speculative, but her second seems hard to dispute.

Posted by Paul at 09:49 PM

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