A poll by Channel 12 reveals a slight improvement in the situation of the pro-Netanyahu bloc parties if elections were held on Tuesday. However, it shows that anti-Netanyahu parties would still obtain a clear majority. Finally, 58% of voters surveyed think that the Prime Minister should resign.
The poll gives Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud, the two parties Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism, as well as the two ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism, a total of 50 seats out of the 120 in the Knesset. This is the highest figure in a series of surveys conducted by the TV channel since October 7, but it is still far from a majority in the Knesset. In its last poll, three weeks ago, the Netanyahu bloc obtained 47 seats. These parties combined won the November 2022 elections with 64 seats. If the elections took place this Tuesday, the survey reveals that the parties would obtain the following results: National Unity of Benny Gantz, 31; Likud, 18; Yesh Atid, 15; Shas, 10; Yisrael Beiteinu, 10; Otzma Yehudit, 10; United Torah Judaism, 8; Hadash-Ta’al, 5; Ra’am, 5; Religious Zionism, 4; and Meretz 4. The anti-Netanyahu bloc would get 65 seats, with the other five going to the Hadash-Ta’al party.
Parties that would not cross the Knesset threshold would include Balad, Gideon Sa’ar’s New Right and Labor. The figures show an increase in support for the two far-right parties, compared to previous polls taken after October 7, with Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit gaining 10 seats and Betsalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism obtaining 4. The two parties received the same number of seats when they ran together in the 2022 elections. Smotrich’s party failed to cross the threshold in many recent polls. If a new right-wing alliance led by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen and Sa’ar arises, the parties would obtain the following scores: National Unity, 22; Bennett-Cohen-Sa’ar party, 18; Likud, 16; Yesh Atid, 11, and the Labor Party (if led by former IDF deputy chief Yair Golan), 6. Channel 12 does not give numbers for other parties in this scenario. Asked whether the elections should be brought forward from the planned date of October 2026, 54% responded in the affirmative and 37% in the negative.
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