Ariel Sharon is the Israeli public's most popular candidate for prime minister in the coming elections, according to a Dialog-Haaretz poll conducted Monday.

Respondents were asked which individual they favor as prime minister, without any connection to what party for which they would vote.

Thirty-seven percent see Prime Minister Sharon continuing in his current role and 22 percent favored newly-elected Labor Party leader Amir Peretz.

Only 15 percent of respondents favored the new leader of the Likud, who will be chosen in party primaries in December.

Twenty-six percent of respondents refused to answer the question or said they did not know how to answer it.

Earlier in the day Sharon quit the ruling Likud party and asked the president to dissolve the parliament and call early elections.