The swift collapse in the percentage of respondents who supported Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as their top candidate for the premiership in the latest opinion polls (Dec. 8-9) is a formative event in the 2015 elections. This is the first time in recent years that Netanyahu, the undisputed king of opinion polls as the most appropriate person to direct the state, is losing this advantage.
Ostensibly, this would seem to be wonderful news for the center-left bloc whose representative, Labor Chairman Isaac Herzog, is closing the gap vis-a-vis Netanyahu in the polls. According to a survey taken by Israeli TV Channel 10 News that was released on Dec. 9, support for Netanyahu as premier drops to only 23%, while Herzog leaps to 22%. This is a dramatic, close race and even though the duel is taking place only in the opinion polls, it has a tremendous effect on public opinion. On the conscious level, these results break Netanyahu's hegemony and, more so, in favor of a left-wing leader.
