Eisenkot Leads Netanyahu in New Israeli Polls Ahead of Election
Translated & summarized from Al-Shams by baba
A Channel 12 poll indicates Gadi Eisenkot's Yishai party would be the largest in Israel with 23 seats, while Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party falls to 20 seats, two weeks before elections. The poll also shows Eisenkot leading Netanyahu by 10 points as the preferred prime minister. Parties opposing Netanyahu are projected to win 67 seats, compared to 49 for his coalition allies. Around 8% of voters remain undecided.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- Gadi Eisenkot's Yishai party leads polls with 23 seats, while Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud has 20 seats.
- Eisenkot is preferred as prime minister over Netanyahu by a 10-point margin in a new poll.
- Parties opposing Netanyahu are projected to win 67 seats, while his coalition allies would get 49.
- Naftali Bennett's Yamina party is projected to win 13 seats, and other parties show varying results.
- Approximately 8% of Israeli voters remain undecided two weeks before the election.
A Channel 12 poll released Monday evening indicates that Gadi Eisenkot's Yishai party is projected to be the largest in Israel with 23 seats, while Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party drops to 20 seats, two weeks before the 26th Knesset elections. Naftali Bennett's Yamina party is expected to maintain its strength with 13 seats. Yair Golan's Democrats and Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu are each projected to win 9 seats. The Joint List, led by Yousef Jabareen, is set to secure 8 seats, the same number as Aryeh Deri's Shas party, which is showing its first increase since August, and Itamar Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit party, which continues to gain strength. Yaakov Asher's United Torah Judaism party is forecast to decline to 7 seats.
Further seat projections show Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism and Identity list with 6 seats, and Mansour Abbas's United Arab List with 5 seats. Yoaz Hendel and Ze'ev Elkin's Reservists and New Economy list is expected to hold steady with 4 seats. Ofer Winter's People of Israel list remains below the electoral threshold for the second consecutive time, with 1.8% of the vote. Benny Gantz's Blue and White list is also below the threshold at 0.9%, followed by Avi Maoz's Noam party at 0.5% and Moti Litner's Haredi Public list at 0.1%.
The poll suggests that parties opposing Netanyahu would collectively win 67 seats, comprising 54 Zionist seats and 13 Arab seats. Parties supporting Netanyahu's coalition are projected to win 49 seats, while the "third way" list of Hendel and Elkin would take 4 seats. Approximately 8% of respondents remain undecided, with various segments split between different political blocs or unsure of their choice.
In a head-to-head comparison for prime minister, Eisenkot leads Netanyahu by 10 percentage points, with 45% considering him the most suitable candidate versus 35% for Netanyahu. This is a shift from the previous poll where the gap was only 3 points. In a comparison between Naftali Bennett and Netanyahu, Bennett holds a slight edge with 37% to Netanyahu's 36%. Netanyahu leads Avigdor Lieberman by 8 percentage points, 35% to 27%, a narrower margin than the 17 points he held in the previous poll.
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