Most Israelis support a government with two big parties, survey finds

A majority of Israelis support a new government based on two large political parties and rotating the post of prime minister between their leaders, a new survey found.

Fifty-six percent of some 600 respondents, Jews and Arabs, backed the alternating plan between longtime incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu, head of the Likud party, and Benny Gantz, his counterpart from the Blue and White party.

Twenty percent said they would support the idea only if Gantz is first and 14 percent responded similarly about Netanyahu. An additional 22 percent didn’t care who served first and 32 percent oppose any rotation.

They were responding to a special survey conducted by the Guttman Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research at the Israel Democracy Institute.

Sixty-five percent surveyed believe that Netanyahu should resign as head of Likud if he is indicted in any of the three corruption investigations against him. Another 53.5 percent believe he should resign now.

In the event of a resignation, lawmaker Gideon Saar was the choice of successor by 41 percent of respondents.

Meanwhile, a majority of voters in every party or faction that has entered the Knesset following the September elections said they would vote the same way again, including 88.5 percent from Likud and 84 percent from Blue and White.

The survey was conducted Oct. 3-6 with 501 respondents interviewed in Hebrew and 100 in Arabic. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.1 percent