The coalition’s bloc is down to 48 mandates should there be elections now, according to a poll conducted for Maariv by Lazar Research. This is against the backdrop of the northern border tensions, the continued IDF operation in Rafah, and tensions in the government on the haredi draft and rabbi bills.
On the other hand, the opposition’s bloc rose to 62 mandates, which would allow it, should it stay united, to formulate a coalition without being dependent on the Ra’am Party.
The poll, led by Dr. Menachem Lazar, shows the left-wing Meretz Party rising above the electoral threshold with four mandates while the Religious Zionist Party remains below said threshold, with only 2.7% support.
The National Unity Party, led by former emergency government minister-without-portfolio Benny Gantz, dropped by one mandate in contrast to the previous poll and now stands at 23 mandates.
The poll, conducted in partnership with Panel4All, found that Likud is one step below National Unity with 22 mandates—one more than the previous poll—while Yesh Atid went from 15 to 16 mandates, Yisrael Beytenu stayed at a steady 14 mandates, as did Shas with 10 mandates.
For several weeks, the far right-wing Otzma Yehudit Party has been polling at nine mandates, as has United Torah Judaism, which has seven; the Labor Party, which has five; and Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am, which both have five.
As mentioned, Meretz and the Religious Zionist Party traded places above and below the electoral threshold.
Who should be the next prime minister of Israel?
Out of those polled, 42% believe that Benny Gantz is the most suitable candidate for prime minister, while 35% support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The remaining 23% are still undecided.
Among right-wing voters, 2% favor Gantz, and 90% favor Netanyahu; among center-left voters, 84% are for Gantz and 3% are for Netanyahu; and among voters of the Arab parties, 47% are for Gantz and 0% are for Netanyahu.
The poll was conducted on Wednesday and had 510 respondents, constituting a representative sample of the adult population in Israel, Jews and Arabs alike.
The maximum sampling error is 4.4%.
