Poll Shows Eisenkot and Bennett Gaining, Netanyahu Weakening Ahead of Elections
Translated & summarized from Hamal by baba
A pre-election poll shows Gadi Eisenkot's Yishar! party gaining support to 23 mandates and Naftali Bennett's Together party rising to 14, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party falls to 19 seats. Neither the Netanyahu bloc nor the opposition bloc can form a majority government, with the opposition holding 54 seats and Netanyahu's bloc 48. Voter certainty is highest among supporters of the Joint List and Likud, while supporters of Eisenkot and Bennett are less decided. The poll surveyed 601 adults on October 19, 2026, with a 4% margin of error.
The story in 6 lines · by baba
- A new poll indicates Gadi Eisenkot's Yishar! party is gaining support, reaching 23 mandates.
- Naftali Bennett's Together party also strengthens in the poll, reaching 14 mandates.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party loses support, dropping to 19 mandates.
- Neither the Netanyahu bloc nor the opposition bloc can secure a majority to form a government.
- Voter certainty is highest among supporters of the Joint List and Likud parties.
- Ofer Winter's Am Israel party remains below the electoral threshold.
A new poll released a week before the Knesset elections indicates a rise in support for Gadi Eisenkot's Yishar! party and Naftali Bennett's Together party, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party sees a decline. The survey, conducted by the Lazar Research Institute, shows Yishar! gaining one seat to reach 23 mandates, and the Likud dropping one seat to 19. This widens the gap between the two largest parties to four seats, compared to two seats in the previous poll on October 12. Bennett's Together party also strengthens by one seat, reaching 14 mandates and solidifying its position as the third-largest party. Conversely, Yair Golan's Democrats lose a seat, falling to 9, and Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu also drops one seat to 8.
Among parties in the current coalition, trends are mixed. Shas, led by Arie Deri, gains a seat to reach 8, while United Torah Judaism drops to 7. Itamar Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit maintains 8 seats, and Bezalel Smotrich and Moshe Feiglin's Religious Zionism-Identity remains at 6. In the Arab parties, Ra'am, led by Mansour Abbas and Yoav Segalovitz, gains a seat to reach 6, while the Joint List holds steady at 8 mandates.
Ofer Winter's Am Israel party remains below the electoral threshold, with only 2.9% support, indicating it is unlikely to enter the Knesset. In contrast, Yoaz Hendel and Yaron Zelicha's Reservists and Economic party continues to surpass the threshold, holding four seats.
The poll's bloc analysis reveals that neither the Netanyahu bloc nor the opposition bloc can secure the necessary majority to form a government. Netanyahu's bloc weakens to 48 seats, down from 49, while the opposition parties collectively hold 54 seats. The Reservists and Economic party holds an additional four seats, and the two Arab parties together account for 14 seats, an increase of one mandate from the previous week. This means the opposition, despite its lead, still requires additional partners to achieve a parliamentary majority.
The survey also examined voter certainty, with 45% of respondents completely confident in their chosen party and an additional 49% reporting they are fairly confident. Voter certainty varies significantly among parties, with 81% of Joint List voters and 68% of Likud voters expressing complete confidence, compared to lower figures for Eisenkot's (40%) and Bennett's (23%) supporters. Coalition party voters show higher certainty (54%) than opposition voters (35%), though a majority in both camps are at least fairly confident.
The poll was conducted on October 19, 2026, with 601 adult respondents, and has a maximum margin of error of 4%. Small mandate changes should be viewed with caution.
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