Gadi Eizenkot's Party Gains Momentum as Opposition Nears Majority in New Israeli Poll

A new poll conducted by Lazar Research and published by Maariv shows significant gains for former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot's party, Yisrael, which now holds 26 Knesset seats, up three from the previous survey. Meanwhile, the opposition bloc has reached 60 seats, just one short of the 61 needed to form a government. The Likud party, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, dropped one seat to 20 mandates. Despite this, the coalition bloc increased to 49 seats, bolstered by gains from Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism.

The poll also highlights that the party of reservists, Beit Tziony, received 2.9% of the vote, failing to cross the electoral threshold, a notable decline from prior polls where it held four seats. Other new or smaller parties, including Ofir Winter's Hadashot, Gilad Erdan's Achdut, Professor Yaron Zelekha's economic party, and Benny Gantz's Blue and White, also remain below the threshold, collectively accounting for about 8.3% of votes, roughly 10 seats.

Regarding suitability for prime minister, Eizenkot leads with 52% support compared to Netanyahu's 38%, marking the largest gap recorded between them in this poll. Naftali Bennett also leads Netanyahu with 45% to 41%. However, Netanyahu holds a slight advantage over Avigdor Lieberman, 42% to 39%.

The survey explored public opinion on Netanyahu potentially reserving a Knesset seat for his son, Yair Netanyahu. Among coalition voters, 40% oppose this move, 34% support it, and 26% are undecided. Among Likud voters, 49% support the reservation, 34% oppose, and 17% have no opinion. Half of respondents expressed concern that the losing party might not accept election results, while 38% were not worried.

The poll was conducted on August 19-20, 2026, with a representative sample of 501 respondents from a contacted pool of 3,916 adults across Israel, including Jews and Arabs, with a margin of error of 4.4%.