Netanyahu
Netanyahuצילום: יונתן זינדל, פלאש 90

A new poll released Wednesday morning shows Israelis are evenly divided on whether the government should tighten the ongoing national lockdown.

The survey, conducted by Panels Politics and published by Radio 103FM Wednesday, found that 48% of Israelis back increasing the restrictions on public activity during the third lockdown, while 46% of Israelis oppose new restrictions.

In addition, the poll found that if new elections were held today, an alliance of center-left and left-wing parties could mount a challenge to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud.

If no left-wing union is formed, the Likud would drop 10 seats, from the 36 it won in March to just 26 mandates, the poll found, with former Likud MK Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope party in a distant second with 17 seats.

Yamina would win 13 seats in this scenario, compared to 12 for Yesh Atid-Telem, and eight for the left-wing party led by Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, ‘HaYisraelim’.

The Joint Arab List would win 12 seats if new elections were held today, compared to five for the far-left Meretz party.

Yisrael Beytenu is projected to gain one seat, rising to eight, while Blue and White would barely cross the 3.25% electoral threshold with four seats.

Among the haredi factions, Shas would win eight seats, compared to seven for United Torah Judaism.

Broken down by bloc, the right-religious factions which have not ruled out sitting in a government with Netanyahu would win a total of 54 seats, compared to 41 seats for the Left-Arab bloc.

New Hope and Yisrael Beytenu, both of which have refused to sit with Netanyahu, would win a combined 25 seats.

Should Yesh Atid-Telem, HaYisraelim, and Meretz run on a joint list, however, the alliance would win 25 seats, making it the second largest faction in the Knesset, after the Likud, which would win 27 seats in this scenario.

The New Hope party would lose one seat in this scenario, falling to 16 mandates, while Yamina would receive one extra seat, with 14 total.

The Joint Arab List would win 11 seats in place of 12.

In this scenario, the right-wing – religious bloc would win 56 seats, compared to 40 for the left-wing-Arab bloc and 24 for New Hope and Yisrael Beytenu.