A new Channel 14 poll conducted today (Thursday) by Shlomo Filber shows the right-wing bloc strengthening to 65 seats, up from 64 earlier this week. According to the updated numbers, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud rises to 35 seats, compared to 34 in the previous poll. Meanwhile, the left-wing bloc holds steady at 45 seats, while the Arab parties drop slightly from 11 seats earlier this week to 10 in the current survey (Hadash-Ta’al with 5 and Ra’am with 5).
The central trend in the current poll is the weakening of the joint Bennett-Lapid party, dubbed “Beyachad” (Together). While the list received 20 seats in the poll conducted immediately after the merger announcement, it now drops to just 18 seats. In contrast, Gadi Eisenkot’s “Yashar” party records a significant jump to 12 seats, after standing at just 9 seats earlier this week. The remaining parties maintain their strength or show minor changes: Shas with 11 seats, United Torah Judaism and the Democrats with 8 seats each, and Yisrael Beiteinu and Otzma Yehudit with 7 seats each.
At the bottom of the list, the Religious Zionism party maintains its strength with 4 seats, similar to the previous poll. Two parties remain below the electoral threshold in the current survey as well: Balad, which received 2.1% of the vote, and Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party, which received 1.3%. These figures underscore the current political structure, in which the ruling party continues to lead by a significant margin over other competitors, while the center-left merger fails to sustain the initial momentum of the days following the announcement of the joint run.
On the question of suitability for prime minister, dramatic shifts are recorded in favor of Netanyahu and Eisenkot at Bennett’s expense. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strengthens to 54% support (compared to 51% earlier this week), while Naftali Bennett experiences a sharp drop from 32% to 26%. Gadi Eisenkot strengthens here as well, rising to 16% suitability compared to 13% in the previous poll. Avigdor Lieberman remains at 3% and Benny Gantz at just 1%. The poll was conducted with 624 adults from the general population, while the previous poll from earlier this week was conducted with 932 respondents.