Eisenkot leads Netanyahu in PM suitability poll, Yashar largest party

A new poll indicates a shift in Israeli political sentiment, with Gadi Eisenkot, head of the Yashar party, surpassing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in suitability for the premiership. The Channel 12 poll, released Monday evening, shows Yashar emerging as the largest party in the Knesset, projected to win 24 seats if elections were held today. This would place them ahead of Netanyahu's Likud, which is predicted to secure 22 seats.

Other parties also saw projected seat allocations: Naftali Bennett's B'Yachad party is expected to gain 15 seats, and Yair Golan's Democrats would receive 11. Avigdor Liberman's Yisrael Beytenu and Itamar Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit are each projected to win 9 seats. United Torah Judaism is listed with 8 seats, the Joint List with 7, and Shas also with 7. Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionist Party is forecast to get 4 seats, and Mansour Abbas’s Ra’am would also receive 4 seats.

The poll also highlighted parties that would likely fail to cross Israel's electoral threshold, including Benny Gantz's Blue and White, the Unity party led by Gilad Erdan and Yuli Edelstein, and the party of Chili Tropper and Yoaz Hendel. In terms of blocs, the current coalition is projected to hold 50 seats, the opposition 59, and Arab parties 11 seats.

In a direct head-to-head comparison for prime minister suitability, 44% of respondents favored Eisenkot, while 34% supported Netanyahu. The poll also explored a scenario including Brig. Gen. (res.) Ofer Winter, who is expected to announce a new party, which could further impact Likud's seat count and potentially push the Religious Zionist Party below the threshold.