Poll Shows Opposition Parties Decline, Likud Faces New Low

A new poll released Friday predicts a continued decline for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, potentially reaching a new low. Despite this, the current coalition parties are expected to maintain 50 seats in the upcoming Israeli elections on October 27. This stability is attributed to projections that the Religious Zionism party, along with Moshe Feiglin, and the "Amcha Israel" party led by Ofer Vinter, will surpass the electoral threshold.

The survey, published by the newspaper "Maariv," also indicated a drop in the projected representation for opposition Zionist parties. This decline is partly due to the "Reservists and Economists" list exceeding the threshold. The newspaper noted uncertainty regarding which bloc will form the next government.

If elections were held now, the poll forecasts the following seat distribution: "Yashar" party (Gadi Eisenkot) 23 seats, Likud 18, "BeYachad" (Naftali Bennett) 13, "Democrats" 9, "Yisrael Beiteinu" (Avigdor Lieberman) 9, "Otzma Yehudit" 8, "United Torah Judaism" 7, Shas 7, the Joint List 7, Religious Zionism and Feiglin 6, the United Arab List 5, "Amcha Israel" 4, and "Reservists and Economists" 4.

Based on these results, opposition Zionist parties would collectively hold 54 seats, compared to 50 for coalition parties, 12 for Arab parties, and 4 for the "Reservists and Economists" list. Regarding preferred prime ministerial candidates, Gadi Eisenkot received 48% support, followed by Netanyahu at 40%. Naftali Bennett garnered 44% support against Netanyahu's 41%, while 42% favored Netanyahu over Avigdor Lieberman's 38% support.

Additionally, the poll revealed that 54% of respondents believe Israel should support Saudi Arabia in its conflict against the Houthis. Of these, 38% think Israel should condition its support on normalization of relations, while 16% support unconditional aid. Conversely, 26% opposed Israeli support for Saudi Arabia, and 20% were undecided.