Eisenkot’s Yashar leads Likud, tops Netanyahu in premiership preference: Poll

Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party leads Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud by 22 seats to 18 ahead of Israel’s Oct. 27 election, according to an Israeli opinion poll published Wednesday.

The Channel 13 survey also found that 48% of respondents preferred Eisenkot as prime minister, compared with 36% for Netanyahu, while 16% said they did not know which of the two was more suitable for the post.

The poll put the governing coalition bloc at 51 seats and opposition parties at 52, while Arab parties received a combined 13 seats and an alliance led by Yoaz Hendel and Yaron Zelekha won four.

A government needs the support of at least 61 members of Israel’s 120-seat Knesset.

According to the survey, Yashar would emerge as the largest party with 22 seats if elections were held now, while Likud would receive 18.

Naftali Bennett’s Beyachad (Together) and Yair Golan’s Democrats would each receive 11 seats.

The Joint Arab List, Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu and United Torah Judaism would each win eight seats.

Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit and Shas would each receive seven seats, while the Religious Zionism alliance led by Bezalel Smotrich and Moshe Feiglin would take six.

Ofer Winter’s Amcha Yisrael party and the United Arab List, or Ra’am, would each receive five seats.

The poll also showed the Hendel-Zelekha alliance crossing the electoral threshold with four seats, while the Haredi Public party and Benny Gantz’s Blue and White would fail to enter parliament. Blue and White polled below 1%.

Asked about their preferred composition of the next government, 31% backed a broad unity government, 29% preferred an entirely right-wing government and 25% favored a government formed by opposition parties. The remainder chose other options or said they did not know.

The survey questioned 1,503 people and had a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.

Netanyahu has headed Israel’s current government since late December 2022.

He is on trial on corruption charges, which he denies. The International Criminal Court also issued an arrest warrant for him in November 2024 over war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.