Netanyahu and Lapid
Netanyahu and Lapidצילום: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

A new poll shows the right-wing bloc sliding below 60 seats, with the current government coalition approaching parity with Netanyahu and his allies.

The poll, conducted by Midgam and published Wednesday by Galei Tzahal, found that if new elections were held today, the four parties aligned with Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu would win a total of 59 seats – down from 60 seats in the previous Midgam poll, which was published Monday.

The parties in the current government coalition, by contrast, gained one seat in the poll, rising from 56 seats to 57.

The four remaining seats went to Arab factions in the Opposition.

The Likud continues to slide, falling from 32 seats Monday to 31, while Yesh Atid rose from 24 seats on Monday to 25.

The Religious Zionist Party held steady at 13 seats, while the National Unity party of Benny Gantz fell from 13 seats to 12.

Among the haredi parties, Shas received eight and United Torah Judaism seven, the same as in the previous poll.

Finance Minister Avidgor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu Party gained on seat for a total of seven in the new poll, while Labor and Meretz held steady at five seats each.

Two of the three major Arab lists – the United Arab List (Ra’am) and Hadash-Ta’al – continue to narrowly cross the threshold with four seats each, while the third, Balad, again came in below the 3.25% minimum threshold, this time with 1.4%, compared to 2.0% in Monday’s poll.

The Jewish Home party held steady at 1.8%.

In head-to-head matchups, Netanyahu remains the most popular candidate for prime minister, favored by 46% of respondents, compared to 37% who prefer incumbent Yair Lapid.

While Lapid has narrowed Netanyahu’s lead in the head-to-head matchup by three points, the Opposition Leader continues to hold a wide margin over Defense Minister Benny Gantz, with just 29% of respondents preferring Gantz as premier, compared to 46% who prefer Netanyahu.

Arab respondents are far less likely, according to the poll, to turn out to vote next Tuesday, with just 46% predicting they will vote, compared to 72% of Jews.