
The ruling Yamina party could be facing a crushing defeat if snap elections are held, a new poll shows.
As the government gears up for a critical vote this week on the state budget, which must be passed by the Knesset no later than this Thursday, a poll conducted by Direct Polls found that if new elections were held today, Yamina would fail to cross the electoral threshold, leaving it out of the next Knesset.
The coalition, with a narrow 61-59 majority, must pass its spending plan this week or face automatic dissolution of the Knesset and snap elections.
Sunday’s poll found that if the country does head to early elections, Yamina would receive just 2.9% of the vote, below the 3.25% needed to cross the threshold for entry into the Knesset.
The party won seven seats in the 2021 elections, but has lost supporters in recent weeks, falling to just four seats in the previous Direct Polls survey, released on October 4th.
The Likud party would remain the largest faction in the Knesset, the poll found, receiving 35 seats – up from its current 30. It also received 35 seats in the October 4th poll.
Yesh Atid rose by one seat compared to the previous Direct Polls survey, increasing from 19 seats to 20 – three more than it currently holds.
Shas held steady at nine seats, while the United Torah Judaism party rose from seven to eight.
The Blue and White party fell from eight seats to seven, while Yisrael Beytenu is projected to receive seven.
Labor and Meretz received seven and four respectively, while the Joint Arab List polled at seven seats, compared to five for the United Arab List, a coalition member.
The New Hope faction of Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar narrowly cleared the electoral threshold with four seats, after falling below it in the previous poll.
The Religious Zionist Party alliance with Noam and Otzma Yehudit received seven seats.
Broken down by bloc, the Right-Religious bloc received 59 seats in the poll, compared to 50 for the Left-Arab bloc, and 11 seats for right-of-center parties not aligned with the right-wing bloc.
