Netanyahu and Gadi Eizenkot Tie at 23 Seats Each as Bennett Gains Support

A new election poll published by Kan News on August 16, 2026, shows the Likud party led by Benjamin Netanyahu losing one seat, tying with Gadi Eizenkot's Yisrael party at 23 seats each. Meanwhile, Naftali Bennett's Yachdav party gained one seat, rising to 14 seats. Otzma Yehudit, led by Itamar Ben-Gvir, also strengthened by two seats to reach 10, while the Religious Zionism party under Bezalel Smotrich dropped from five to four seats.

Overall, Netanyahu's bloc declined by one seat to 52, while Eizenkot's bloc increased by one to 57 seats. New center-right parties "The Zionist Home - Reservists" and "The Unity," led by Hili Tropper and Yoaz Hendel, and Gilad Erdan and Yuli Edelstein respectively, failed to pass the electoral threshold, as did Benny Gantz's Blue and White and Sami Abu Shehadeh's Balad.

In the prime minister suitability question, Eizenkot leads for the first time in about a month with 41%, up from 36%, compared to Netanyahu's 36%, down from 41%. The gap between Netanyahu and Bennett narrowed significantly from 10% to just 2%, with Netanyahu at 37% and Bennett at 35%.

Among Likud voters, Tali Gottlieb was favored over Miri Regev as the Knesset member best representing party values, while Regev was seen as most damaging to the party's electoral chances. About 60% of Likud voters want Netanyahu to reserve a spot for spokesperson Yosef Hadad, and 57% are satisfied with Netanyahu's current reserved candidate selections.

The survey was conducted by Kantar with 1,103 respondents out of 4,526 invited, including the Arab sector, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9%.