A new election poll released Sunday evening on Kan News shows Gadi Eisenkot's "Yeshar" party maintaining its position as Israel's largest political faction with 24 Knesset seats, while Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud holds second place with 22 mandates.
The survey reveals significant shifts in the political landscape regarding both bloc strength and leadership suitability. Netanyahu's right-wing bloc has weakened by one seat compared to the previous poll, now standing at just 51 mandates, short of the 61 needed to form a government. Meanwhile, the Arab parties' bloc has grown to 12 seats following the merger between Hadash-Ta'al and Balad, while Eisenkot's potential coalition bloc remains stable at 57 mandates.
In head-to-head matchups for prime ministerial suitability, the results show dramatic movement: Eisenkot decisively leads Netanyahu 41% to 35%. More significantly, Naftali Bennett of the "Yachad" party has overtaken Netanyahu for the first time, leading 37% to 36%, even as Bennett's party holds steady at 14 seats.
The poll also examined emerging political alliances on the right. A party led solely by Ofer Winter fails to cross the electoral threshold, receiving only 2.5% of votes. However, a joint list combining Winter with journalist Natalie Shem Tov, advocacy activist Yoseph Haddad, and bereaved mother Lily Darei would clear the threshold with 5 mandates, a development that would come directly at the expense of Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism party, which would fall below the threshold in that scenario.
