One month into Operation Roaring Lion, continued uncertainty over the war and the lack of a decisive result against Hezbollah have not changed the balance between Israel’s political blocs, according to a Maariv poll published on Friday.
Within the coalition, the seesaw between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit continues, with Likud falling by two seats to 26, while Otzma Yehudit gained two to reach 9, leaving the coalition bloc unchanged at 50 seats.
In the opposition, Bennett 2026 held steady at 21 seats, as did the Democrats with 10. By contrast, Eisenkot’s Yashar! gained two seats and rose to 13, at the expense of Yisrael Beytenu, down to 9, and Yesh Atid, down to 7.
The opposition bloc also remained unchanged at 60 seats, the same as in the previous poll. Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am each retained 5 seats.
Asked how they would vote if the following parties ran in the next Knesset election, respondents gave the following results: Likud 26, Bennett 21, Yashar! at 13, the Democrats 10, Yisrael Beytenu and Otzma Yehudit at 9 each, Shas 8, Yesh Atid and United Torah Judaism at 7 each, and Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am each at 5.
Religious Zionist Party (2.3%), Blue and White (2.8%), the Reservists (1.6%), and Balad (1.3%) did not cross the electoral threshold.
The poll also found that a joint list of Gadi Eisenkot and Naftali Bennett would become the largest party. Led by Eisenkot, the bloc would receive 33 seats, and under Bennett, 32, though in both scenarios, the bloc picture would remain unchanged.
In a head-to-head question on fitness for prime minister, Eisenkot received 32% support against Bennett’s 29%.
Public dissatisfaction over Hezbollah war and trust in Trump
The survey also found that a majority of Israelis, 53%, are dissatisfied with the way the government is managing the war against Hezbollah. Only 42% said they were satisfied, while 5% said they did not know.
Dissatisfaction was strongest among residents of Haifa and northern Israel, where 58% said they were dissatisfied, and among secular respondents, where the figure stood at 62%. By contrast, regarding the Iranian front, 54% of Israelis said they were satisfied with the government’s conduct of the war, while 40% were dissatisfied and 6% said they did not know.
The poll further found that 51% of Israelis do not trust US President Donald Trump to end the war with Iran in a way that would preserve Israel’s interests. Another 42% said they do trust him, while 7% said they did not know.
The survey was conducted by Lazar Research, headed by Dr. Menachem Lazar, in cooperation with Panel4All. The survey was conducted on Wednesday and Thursday, March 25-26, among 500 respondents, constituting a representative sample of Israel’s adult population aged 18 and over, including Jews and Arabs. The maximum margin of sampling error was 4.4%.