The latest polls ahead of Israel’s October election

Graphics Netanyahu bloc trails rivals in polls ahead of Israel's October 27 election By Reuters Published Sept. 16, 2025 07:00 PM GMT+2 Filter polls by major Israeli media outlets: All Choose a media outlet… Channel 12 News Channel 13 News Channel 14 i24 news Israel Hayom Kan News Maariv The Times of Israel (Hebrew) Individual polls Under Israel’s electoral system, parties must receive at least 3.25% of the vote to enter the Knesset, equivalent to a minimum of four seats. Parties below the threshold receive no seats. Note: Data as of September 14. Under Israel’s electoral system, parties must receive at least 3.25% of the vote to enter the Knesset, equivalent to a minimum of four seats. Parties below the threshold receive no seats. Note: Data as of September 14. Currently, no candidate has a clear path to power, according to the polling average. Yashar leads our polling aggregate by 3 points over Likud . Based on the polling average, anti-Netanyahu parties would hold 66 seats, 18 more than the pro-Netanyahu parties but they may be unable to form a coalition. Israel will hold a national election on October 27, its first vote since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that shook the country and plunged the Middle East into turmoil, as Israel went to war in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. The election could determine whether Netanyahu remains in power after one of the most consequential periods in Israel’s history, or is defeated by centrist rivals promising to usher in a new era. 0 0 20 20 40 40 60 60 80 80 100 100 120 120 2026 Estimated seats Ra’am Democrats Yashar Together IOH Likud RZ Shas UTJ Anti-Netanyahu parties 2022 Ra’am Yesh Atid National Unity IOH Likud RZ & JP Shas UTJ Netanyahu's 2022 coalition government Arab Left Centre Right Far-right Ultra-Orthodox Gray seats are unassigned because parties below the 3.25% electoral threshold, equivalent to at least four seats, are excluded and estimates are rounded. Note: Data as of September 14. Seat estimates are based on the latest polling average. Bands indicate editorially defined party families and do not represent voter transfers. Source: Knesset Polls have suggested no candidate has a clear path to power. Netanyahu, who leads the veteran right-wing Likud party, faces a front of centrist, left and right-wing parties led by Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar, Naftali Bennett’s Together, Avigdor Lieberman’s Israel Our Home and Yair Golan’s Democrats. But both Netanyahu and his rival camp may be short of a decisive majority in the 120-seat Knesset, with smaller parties that are not clearly affiliated with either side running in the race. Benjamin Netanyahu Likud Likud has been in power almost consecutively since 1977, when it toppled the Labour party that had dominated Israeli politics since independence in 1948. Likud's hegemony before Netanyahu was marked by the expansion of Jewish settlements on land that Palestinians seek for a state, a landmark peace treatise with Egypt and the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. Netanyahu, who led Likud in the 1990s and then again from 2005, forged diplomatic ties with more Arab countries in the 2020 Abraham accords and held failed peace talks with the Palestinians. His present term in office has seen Likud embrace right-wing populism with a bid to curb the powers of Israel's Supreme Court. Likud has kept up its alliance with far-right parties who have backed Netanyahu’s conduct of wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran and driven settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank. Likud’s popularity plummeted soon after the October 7 Hamas attack. Gadi Eisenkot Yashar Yashar, which in Hebrew means ‘straight’ or ‘honest’, is a new party, headed by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, who lost a son in Gaza. Eisenkot has projected an image as a political outsider, soldier and security hawk whose humble background and family sacrifices stand in vivid contrast to Netanyahu's decades in high office and ‌lingering corruption cases. The party has been campaigning on a platform of integrity and social cohesion, promising to pull the country out of crisis, strengthen security and return the state to its democratic foundations. Naftali Bennett Together (Beyachad) A new party formed on an old alliance between former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, who jointly ousted Netanyahu in 2021. Their campaign messages have focused on healing a traumatized nation in the wake of the October 7 attack and getting the country back on track after the ensuing wars and amid Israel's growing international isolation. Bennett objects to Palestinian statehood, saying it would pose a security threat while Lapid has in the past supported it. Itamar Ben-Gvir Jewish Power (Otzma Yehudit) Led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who was convicted in 2007 of racist incitement against Arabs and backing a group considered by Israel and the United States to be a terrorist organization. Under his leadership, Jewish Power authored legislation promoting capital punishment for convicted Palestinian militants. As minister, Ben-Gvir toughened prison conditions for Palestinians jailed in Israel and eased regulations on gun ownership for Israelis. He has also advocated for the expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. Bezalel Smotrich Religious Zionism Led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Religious Zionism represents Israel’s small but powerful ideological settler movement. The party advocates for the annexation of the West Bank, which they view as the biblical bedrock of the Jewish people, and resettlement of Gaza. Holding a second portfolio in Israel’s defence ministry, Smotrich has spearheaded Israel's rapid expansion of West Bank settlements, voicing his hope that it would ‘bury’ the idea of a Palestinian state. Aryeh Deri SHAS, UTJ Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties have been Netanyahu's most loyal political allies for almost two decades. But in his present term, they have been angered by his failure to deliver legislation that they have long sought, to exempt religious seminary students from service in Israel’s conscript military, in favour of full-time devotion to religious study . Avigdor Lieberman Israel Our Home (Yisrael Beiteinu) Led by the hawkish former defence minister Avigdor Lieberman, Israel Our Home draws support from the country's ex-Soviet immigrant community. Lieberman, a former Netanyahu ally and now one of his staunchest critics, quit Netanyahu's government in 2018, accusing the prime minister of being too soft on Palestinian militants in Gaza. Yair Golan The Democrats Founded on the moribund remnants of Israel's historical Labour party and smaller left-wing Meretz, left-wing Democrats has been energized under the leadership of former general Yair Golan, hailed for his rescue of people from one of the Hamas October 7 attack sites. The party advocates for a peace agreement with the Palestinians, arguing that it is an Israeli security interest. Mansour Abbas Raam and The Joint List Israel's 21% Arab minority is represented by two lists - Raam, a historically Islamist party led by Mansour Abbas, and The Joint List, an alliance between three mainly Arab parties. In 2021, Abbas' Raam became the first Arab party to join a governing coalition in Israel's history. Both lists want to see Netanyahu ousted. Netanyahu's rivals have said they will not include Arab parties in their coalition, though polling suggests their clearest path to power could involve forming a minority government with tacit Arab support from the outside. A section introducing several of the main candidates for Israeli prime minister, including Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud, Gadi Eisenkot of Yashar, and Naftali Bennett of Together (Beyachad). Each candidate is shown with a photo, party affiliation, and a brief description of their background and political positions. Israel’s political landscape includes right-wing, centrist, left-wing, ultra-Orthodox Jewish and Arab parties. Netanyahu has led Likud in 11 national elections since 1996 and emerged as prime minister in six of them, relying on coalitions to govern in Israel’s fragmented parliamentary system. Israel’s longest serving prime minister, Netanyahu has been in power almost consecutively since 2009, with a brief stint as opposition head in 2021. Netanyahu returned to power after the 2022 election with a 64-seat coalition of nationalist and religious parties, but polls ahead of the 2026 vote suggest Likud could lose a significant share of its seats. Arab Left Centre Right Far-right Ultra-Orthodox 0 0 20 20 40 40 60 60 80 80 100 100 120 120 2009 Labour Kadima Likud IOH Shas UTJ 2013 Labour Meretz Hatnua Yesh Atid Likud Beitenu Jewish Home Shas UTJ 2015 The Joint List Zionist Union Kulanu Yesh Atid Likud IOH Shas UTJ Apr 2019 Labour Blue and White Likud IOH Shas UTJ Sep 2019 Blue and White Likud Yamina IOH Shas UTJ 2020 The Joint List Blue and White Likud Yamina IOH Shas UTJ 2021 Labour Meretz Yesh Atid Likud Yamina RZ & JP IOH Shas UTJ 2022 Ra’am National Unity Yesh Atid IOH Likud RZ & JP Shas UTJ Netanyahu's 2022 coalition government Note: Bands connect editorially assigned party families, they do not measure voter transfers. Source: Knesset Note Data as of September 14. Sources Polling data from individual pollsters and media outlets via the Madad News Agency polling repository. Methodology Our poll aggregate for parties is estimated using local polynomial regression, which is a method used to fit a curve through individual poll points. By Adrián Blanco Ramos and Maayan Lubell. Edited by Jon McClure and Rami Ayyub. Information you can trust Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers.