Netanyahu Falls to a Near-Year Low as Eizenkot Surges in New Poll

A new Maariv poll shows Likud dropping three seats this week to 22, its weakest result in almost a year. The survey, conducted by Lazar Research led by Dr. Menachem Lazar and in cooperation with Panel4ALL, says Likud has not been this low since August 2025, when it received 21 seats in the paper’s polling.

On the opposition side, Gadi Eizenkot’s Yeshar! rises by three seats to a record 20, taking support directly from Naftali Bennett’s B’Yachad, which falls by two to 21. That leaves an unusually tight three-way race for the largest party in Israel, with only one seat separating Likud, Bennett’s bloc and Eizenkot’s party. The full poll gives Likud 22, B’Yachad 21, Yeshar! 20, Democrats 10, Yisrael Beiteinu and Otzma Yehudit 9 each, Shas 8, United Torah Judaism 7, Hadash-Taal 6, Ra’am 4, and Religious Zionism 4.

Parties below the electoral threshold include Balad at 2%, Blue and White at 1.9%, and the Reservists Party at 1.7%. Despite the shifts within the blocs, the overall balance is nearly unchanged from last week, with the coalition at 50 seats, the Zionist opposition bloc at 60, and the Arab parties holding the remaining 10.

The poll also measured who is best suited to serve as prime minister. Bennett leads Benjamin Netanyahu 43% to 39%, and Eizenkot leads him 44% to 40%. Netanyahu still leads Avigdor Lieberman 41% to 37%, but the gap has narrowed sharply from the previous Maariv poll, which had Netanyahu ahead 48% to 29%.