- TEL AVIV: The nationalist Likud party of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has increased its popularity, almost one year after it returned to power in February 2009 elections, a poll published Friday showed.
If new elections were held today, the Likud would emerge even stronger than it did in last year's vote and become the biggest party in the Knesset, winning 35 seats, the survey said.
That is eight more than the 27 seats it currently has in the 120-member Israeli Parliament, and 23 more than it obtained in 2006.
Netanyahu's personal popularity, however, is somewhat down, said the survey by the Dialog Institute, commissioned by Haaretz.
While 50 percent of Israelis were "satisfied" with his performance three months ago, 42 replied they are satisfied today.