Poll Shows Eisenkot Gaining on the Opposition, Bennett Slumping

A new News 13 poll released Wednesday, about four months before elections, shows Likud still the largest party with 22 seats. In the opposition camp, Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar would win 20 seats, overtaking Naftali Bennett’s B’Yachad list, which drops to 17.

The poll gives The Democrats and Yisrael Beiteinu 11 seats each. Shas gets 9, Otzma Yehudit 8, and United Torah Judaism 8. Hadash-Ta’al gets 6, while Ra’am and Religious Zionism clear the threshold with 4 seats each. The Reservists, Balad and Blue and White remain below the electoral threshold.

In bloc terms, the current opposition bloc led by Eisenkot reaches 59 seats, the coalition bloc led by Benjamin Netanyahu gets 51, and the Arab parties get 10. In hypothetical center-left merger scenarios, a unified list led by Eisenkot would win 35 seats, while one led by Bennett would get 31. In both cases, the Reservists would enter the Knesset with 4 seats, bringing the total to 61 for Eisenkot or 60 for Bennett.

The poll also tested who undecided voters trust on key issues. On Iran, 43% prefer Netanyahu’s coalition, versus 17% for Eisenkot and 15% for Bennett. On the cost of living, 36% back Bennett’s camp, 17% Eisenkot and 15% Netanyahu. On social divisions in Israel, 31% prefer Eisenkot’s coalition, 26% Bennett’s and 11% Netanyahu’s. The survey found 72% of Israelis have already decided how they will vote, 11% have not decided, 9% have decided but not definitively, and 8% say they will not vote.