Likud and Yisrael Shtiyu Tie at 23 Seats as Third Bloc Parties Fail to Cross Threshold

A new Kan News poll published on Sunday shows a tie between Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud and Gadi Eizenkot's Yisrael Shtiyu, each receiving 23 Knesset seats. This marks a one-seat gain for Likud compared to the previous poll, where both parties held 23 seats. The recently announced center-right parties, including the Trooper-Hendel and the Erdan-Adelstein unions, failed to pass the electoral threshold.

Likud and Netanyahu's bloc strengthened by one seat to 53 mandates, while the Democrats, led by Yair Golan, rebounded to 10 seats after falling to eight in the last poll. Yisrael Beiteinu also gained one seat, reaching 10. Naftali Bennett's faction, Beyachad, remained steady at 13 seats. A potential joint list of Hadash, Ta'al, and Balad could secure eight seats, excluding Ra'am, which together with Segalovitz is projected to have five seats. This would total 13 seats for the Arab parties, potentially reducing Netanyahu's bloc to 52 seats.

Regarding prime ministerial suitability, Netanyahu leads Bennett with 41% to 31%, similar to the previous poll. Netanyahu widened his lead over Eizenkot from 4% to 7%, with 41% favoring Netanyahu and 34% Eizenkot. Between Bennett and Eizenkot, Eizenkot leads 31% to 20%, narrowing the gap from 22% last week to 11% now.

The poll also found that 18% of respondents considered emigrating recently, rising to 23% among opposition voters versus 6% among coalition supporters. Despite this, 67% of Israelis are not concerned about emigration rates, and only 12% expressed worry about this trend.