New Poll Shows Netanyahu Bloc Leading, Ayzenkot Preferred as PM

A new poll released by Israel's Channel 13 on Wednesday evening indicates that the "Yashar" party, led by Gadi Eisenkot, would win 21 seats in a hypothetical Knesset election, narrowly ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, which would secure 19 seats. The poll suggests Netanyahu's bloc would hold a slight advantage with 54 seats compared to Eisenkot's bloc's 52 seats. The survey also found that 44% of respondents prefer Eisenkot as Prime Minister, while 38% favor Netanyahu.

Other parties included in the poll results show "Achva" led by Naftali Bennett and "Democrats" led by Yair Golan each receiving 11 seats. Avigdor Lieberman's "Yisrael Beiteinu" and the Joint List would each get 9 seats. "Yahadut HaTorah" and Itamar Ben-Gvir's "Otzma Yehudit" are projected to win 8 seats apiece. Shas and "Religious Zionism-Identity" led by Bezalel Smotrich and Moshe Feiglin would each obtain 7 seats. The United Arab List, headed by Mansour Abbas, and "Am Israel" led by Ofer Winter, are predicted to gain 5 seats each.

The poll also revealed that Benny Gantz's "Blue and White" party failed to pass the electoral threshold, securing only 0.9% of the vote. Yoaz Hendel's "The Israelis-Economic" party also fell short, receiving 2.8% of the vote, a drop from four seats in the previous poll. The "Haredi Public" party garnered 1.3% of the vote.

Regarding public opinion on political issues, 69% of respondents supported forming an official investigation committee into the events of October 7th, with 15% opposing it. Additionally, 65% agreed with establishing a term limit for the Prime Minister, while 19% opposed the idea.