Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar! Leads with 23 Seats as Likud Drops to 21 in New Poll
A new Maariv poll published on Friday shows Gadi Eisenkot's party Yashar! maintaining its lead with 23 Knesset seats. Likud, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, has weakened by one seat, dropping to 21 mandates. Naftali Bennett's Yachdav party also lost one seat, now holding 14. Both Yisrael Beiteinu and the Democrats have 10 seats each, while Otzma Yehudit and United Torah Judaism stand at 8 seats apiece. Shas remains steady at 7 seats, Hadash-Ta'al holds 6, Ra'am has 5, and Religious Zionism crosses the electoral threshold with 4 seats. The party led by Trooper and Handel also has 4 seats.
Netanyahu's coalition has decreased by one seat to 48, compared to 49 in the previous poll. The Zionist opposition holds 57 seats, including 4 for Trooper and Handel's party. Arab parties collectively strengthen to 11 seats. Parties below the threshold include the New Economic Party (2.5%), Blue and White (1.9%), Achdut led by Gilad Erdan (1.7%), Balad (1.5%), and Israel First led by Sharren Haskel (0.6%). The undecided voter rate stands at 13.1%.
The poll also examined a scenario where Hadash, Ta'al, and Balad unite, with Yoav Segalovich placed second on Ra'am's list. In this case, the Joint Arab List would gain 8 seats, Ra'am would increase to 6, totaling 14 Arab seats. Under this scenario, Yashar! drops to 22 seats, Likud to 20, and Yachdav to 13. Netanyahu's coalition weakens to 47 seats, the Zionist opposition falls to 55, and Trooper and Handel's party remains at 4.
Regarding suitability for prime minister, Eisenkot widens his lead over Netanyahu to double digits, with 49% favoring Eisenkot and 38% Netanyahu; 13% were undecided. In the previous poll, Eisenkot had 47% and Netanyahu 38%.
The survey also asked how Israel should respond if the US signs a deal with Iran but Israel perceives an immediate threat requiring an attack. Sixty-five percent said Israel should strike alone without US approval, 20% said only with US consent or cooperation, and 16% were unsure. Support for unilateral action is especially high among coalition voters (84%) and third bloc voters (78%), with a majority (56%) of Zionist opposition voters also supporting independent strikes. However, 30% of Zionist opposition voters believe Israel should attack only with US agreement or cooperation.
