Netanyahu's Likud Party Makes No Gains Amid Iran War, Poll Finds

A new poll by Israel's Channel 12 News published Thursday evening predicted that if elections were held today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party would receive 26 Knesset seats.

“A new poll by Israel's Channel 12 News published Thursday evening predicted that if elections were held today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party would receive 26 Knesset seats — exactly the same number it received in the previous poll conducted by the channel two days before the outbreak of the war with Iran”

Haaretz

That total is exactly the same number Likud received in the previous poll conducted by the channel two days before the outbreak of the war with Iran.

Haaretz

The poll found little movement for several parties: the party of former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and the Yashar party led by former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot each received the same number of Knesset seats as in the previous poll.

The Democrats Party led by Yair Golan gained one seat, while Yesh Atid led by Yair Lapid and Otzma Yehudit led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir each lost one seat.

Haaretz

The poll examined a scenario in which the Arab parties Hadash-Ta'al and United Arab List run separately, not on a joint list.

Under that scenario, the poll predicted that Religious Zionism led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Blue and White led by former Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, the Reservists party led by Yoaz Hendel, and Balad do not pass the electoral threshold.

The poll again predicts that neither bloc — neither Netanyahu's supporters nor his opponents — will be able to form a government without the support of the Arab parties.

“A new poll by Israel's Channel 12 News published Thursday evening predicted that if elections were held today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party would receive 26 Knesset seats — exactly the same number it received in the previous poll conducted by the channel two days before the outbreak of the war with Iran”

Haaretz

The opposition bloc gains one Knesset seat and, with 21 seats for Bennett, 12 for the Democrats, 11 for Eisenkot, nine for Yisrael Beiteinu led by Avigdor Lieberman, and six for Lapid's Yesh Atid, receives only 59 Knesset seats.

In contrast, the coalition parties' bloc receives only 51 Knesset seats: 26 for Likud, nine for Otzma Yehudit, nine for Shas, and seven for United Torah Judaism.

Respondents rated the performance of security and political leadership during the war on a scale of 1 to 10.

They gave Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir the highest average score at 7.4, Mossad Director Dedi Barnea 7.2, Netanyahu 5.6, Defense Minister Israel Katz 5, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich 3.8.

Haaretz

The poll was conducted by the Midgam Institute, headed by Mano Geva, in cooperation with iPanel.