The coalition weakened by four seats this past week as the Religious Zionist Party fell below the electoral threshold, according to a Maariv survey published on Friday.
The survey was carried out against the backdrop of MK Yuli Edelstein’s removal as chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, as well as the ongoing stagnation in Gaza and continued uncertainty over a potential hostage deal.
Together with the coalition bloc’s sharp decline, an opposition led by Naftali Bennett received 61 seats, up four from last week, compared to 49 for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition. The Arab parties would hold an additional 10 seats.
Netanyahu and Bennett nearly tie for prime minister
If elections were held today, the seat distribution would be as follows: Likud at 25 seats, down from 26; Bennett’s party at 24, up from 22; Yisrael Beytenu at 12, up from 11. The Democrats at 11 and Shas would have 10, both up by one; Yesh Atid at nine, up from eight; United Torah Judaism and Otzma Yehudit at seven, unchanged; Blue and White at five, down from six; Ra’am and Hadash-Ta’al at five, unchanged; and Religious Zionist Party at zero, down from four.
The poll also showed that a new party led by Gadi Eisenkot would be expected to receive six seats, mostly at the expense of other opposition bloc parties. In this scenario, the opposition gains an additional seat for a total of 62, compared to 48 for Netanyahu’s coalition, one seat less than in the previous scenario.
Similarly, a new reservists’ party led by Yoaz Hendel would receive seven seats, also largely at the expense of opposition bloc parties. This scenario would also see the opposition rising to 62 seats versus 48 for Netanyahu’s coalition.
Netanyahu and Bennett nearly tie for prime minister. They are currently neck and neck in suitability for the role, with 45% preferring Netanyahu, 43% preferring Bennett, and an additional 12% responding “don’t know.”
The poll also found that more than half of the public (52%) said Edelstein’s replacement with Boaz Bismuth as head of the FADC was inappropriate, while less than a fourth either thought it was appropriate and or were undecided (24% each).
These findings are based on a survey conducted for Maariv by Lazar Research, led by Dr. Menachem Lazar, in collaboration with the internet organization Panel4All. The poll was conducted from July 23-24, with 501 respondents, representing a sample of the adult population, both Jewish and Arab. The margin of error for the survey is +/- 4.4%.