The storm over Gadi Eisenkot’s meeting with Bedouin municipal leaders in the north is directly reshaping the electoral map. A Channel 14 poll released Thursday night shows Eisenkot’s Yashar party leader weakening both in seat count and suitability for prime minister compared to the previous poll conducted Tuesday. The survey was conducted following claims by Tuba-Zangariyye council head Muayed al-Hayeb that Eisenkot promised during the meeting to work toward including Ra’am in a future government under his leadership—a claim Yashar vehemently denied.
1+According to the poll results, Likud gains a seat and rises from 30 to 31 seats, while Eisenkot’s Yashar loses a seat and drops from 21 to 20. The gap between the two parties widens from 9 seats in the previous poll to 11 seats in the new survey. Shas holds steady at 10 seats, Naftali Bennett’s party gains a seat to reach 9, and the Democrats lose a seat to 8. Otzma Yehudit and United Torah Judaism each maintain 8 seats, Religious Zionism and Zehut weaken to 7, the Joint List and Yisrael Beiteinu each receive 7 seats, and Ra’am holds at 5 seats.
Below the electoral threshold, Ofer Winter’s Amcha Israel party shows slight strengthening, rising from 2.3% to 2.6%, and the Reservists-Economic party climbs from 2.1% to 2.2%. Blue and White receives 0.4%, the Haredi Public 0.3%, and Noam 0.1%. In the bloc map, no change is recorded: the right-wing bloc maintains a solid majority of 64 seats, the left-wing bloc receives 44 seats, and the Arab parties together win 12 seats.
1+The most striking change appears in the suitability for prime minister question. When asked which of four candidates is most suited for the role, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strengthens by four percentage points, rising from 51% in the previous poll to 55% in the current survey. In contrast, Eisenkot loses six percentage points in two days, dropping from 35% to 29%. Naftali Bennett rises to 11%, and Avigdor Lieberman receives 5%. In a head-to-head matchup between Netanyahu and Eisenkot, a significant 14-point gap opens, with Netanyahu rising to 57% and Eisenkot falling to 43%.
The poll was conducted today, September 17, 2026, by NEXT DATA with 817 adult participants from the general population, with data analysis by Shlomo Filber. The previous poll was conducted on Tuesday, September 15, with 483 adult participants.