Poll Shows Gadi Eisenkot Leading Benjamin Netanyahu in PM Suitability

A mandate poll published by Channel 12 shows Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot leading Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a head to head matchup over who is more suitable to serve as prime minister. According to the poll, 44 percent of respondents favor Eisenkot for the position, while 34 percent favor Netanyahu. The poll also indicates that Yashar would be the largest party in the Knesset with 24 seats, followed by Likud with 22 seats.

Other party projections include Naftali Bennett's B'Yachad with 15 seats and Yair Golan's Democrats with 11 seats. Avigdor Liberman's Yisrael Beytenu and Itamar Ben Gvir's Otzma Yehudit are each projected to receive 9 seats. United Torah Judaism is at 8 seats, while the Joint List and Shas are both at 7 seats. Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionist Party and Mansour Abbas's Ra'am are each projected to receive 4 seats. The poll suggests that Benny Gantz's Blue and White, the Unity party, and the party led by Chili Tropper and Yoaz Hendel would fail to pass the electoral threshold.

The bloc breakdown shows the coalition with 50 seats and the opposition with 59 seats, while Arab parties hold 11 seats. In a scenario where Ofer Winter forms a new party, the coalition would drop to 49 seats and the opposition would rise to 60 seats. Regarding other matchups, Netanyahu received 37 percent support against Bennett's 39 percent, and 35 percent support against Liberman's 28 percent.