Michael Shemesh on the political drama: a “crazy plunge”

The dramatic poll by Dudi Hassid, published in Israel Hayom, showing Gadi Eisenkot overtaking Naftali Bennett, is drawing attention in the political system. The first to respond to the data and analyze its deeper meaning was Channel 13 political commentator Michael Shemesh, who points to what he calls Bennett’s “crazy plunge” over the past week.

Shemesh notes that just last Thursday, a Here News poll conducted by the very same pollster, Dudi Hassid, presented a completely different picture. In that poll, Bennett’s party won 23 mandates, while Eisenkot trailed with only 17 mandates. From briefings about a “one-off event” to a free fall following other polls published that same week, בראשם Channel 12’s poll that had already shown Bennett weakening, the former prime minister’s circle quickly moved to calm the situation.

Shemesh explains that Bennett’s people tried to downplay the findings and briefed journalists and the political system that the collapse recorded on Channel 12 was merely a “one-off” event and did not indicate a trend. But the data published today prove otherwise, and cast those briefings in a problematic light. “Today, the exact same pollster, Dudi Hassid, presents the opposite picture in a poll published in Israel Hayom,” Shemesh emphasizes.

According to him, the new data show that Bennett lost four mandates in one week with the same pollster and fell to 19 mandates, while Eisenkot climbed to 20 mandates and passed him. Shemesh ended his analysis of the situation with the sharp words: “Free fall.”