Poll Shows Religious Zionism Bloc Gaining After Merger; Winter's Party Falls

Two days after the merger of the Religious Zionism and Identity parties, the joint list led by Bezalel Smotrich is projected to win 7 Knesset seats, according to a Channel 14 poll. The survey, conducted by Shlomo Filber and released Thursday, also shows Ofer Winter's "Am Israel" party falling below the electoral threshold with only 2.7% of the vote, failing to pass the required 3.25% to enter the Knesset. This marks a significant drop from the previous poll where Winter's party garnered 4 seats.

The poll, conducted five days before the deadline for list submissions, projects a 63-seat majority for the right-wing bloc and 45 seats for the center-left bloc, with Arab parties taking 12 seats. The Likud party leads the survey with 31 seats, maintaining its previous strength. Yesh Atid follows with 22 seats, a decrease of two. Shas is projected to receive 10 seats, while Naftali Bennett's "Achva" party gains three seats to reach 9. The Democrats remain at 8 seats, and United Torah Judaism also gains one seat to reach 8.

The Religious Zionism-Identity list secures 7 seats, alongside Otzma Yehudit, which also receives 7 seats. The Hadash-Ta'al-Balad list is projected to win 7 seats as well. Yisrael Beiteinu drops one seat to 6, and Ra'am receives 5 seats.

Several other parties failed to pass the electoral threshold, including Hili Tropper and Yoaz Hendel's "Reserve Duty" party with 1.3%, Blue and White with 1.2%, Noam for Israel with 0.3%, and the Unity Party with 0.1%. The poll surveyed 1,000 respondents and has a margin of error of 3.1%.