A new poll published by Channel 12 News on Monday reveals that most Israelis prefer Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the role of Prime Minister, but the coalition he leads would not achieve 61 seats if elections were to be held today.
On the question of who is more suitable for the role of Prime Minister between Netanyahu and opposition leader Yair Lapid, Netanyahu wins with 41 percent, compared to 24 percent for Lapid. Between Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, Netanyahu leads with 39 percent, compared to 27 percent for Gantz. On the question of suitability for the role of Prime Minister between Netanyahu and Naftali Bennett, Netanyahu wins 35 percent over Bennett's 23 percent.
52 percent of respondents said that elections should be held as soon as possible while 40 percent said that the elections should be held when they are scheduled to take place - that is, the end of 2026.
If Bennett were to form a new party, his seats would come mainly at the expense of Gantz’s National Unity Party. According to the poll, in such a situation, Likud would win 24 seats and the new party led by Bennett would win 21 seats.
National Unity wins 13 seats in this poll. Shas and Yesh Atid each win ten seats and the Democrats, led by Yair Golan, has nine seats.
The Yisrael Beytenu party wins eight seats in this poll, as does United Torah Judaism. Otzma Yehudit wins seven seats. Hadash-Ta'al wins five and so does Ra'am.
Below the electoral threshold are the Religious Zionist Party with 2.8 percent, Balad with 2.6 percent and Gideon Sa'ar's United Right with 0.8 percent.
In the event that Bennett does not run, the Likud would win 26 seats and National Unity would win 22 seats.
Yesh Atid and Yisrael Beytenu each win 13 seats. Shas and the Democrats led by Yair Golan win 10 seats each.
Otzma Yehudit wins eight seats, as does United Torah Judaism.
The Hadash-Ta'al party wins five seats, as does the Ra'am party.
Below the electoral threshold are the Religious Zionist party with 2.9 percent, Balad with 2.6 percent and United Right with 1 percent.