Poll: 42% of Israelis prefer Netanyahu over Bennett for PM; 32% think he should take plea deal and retire

Forty-two percent of Israelis believe that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is more suited to lead the country than former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who is preferred by 35% of Israelis, according to a new poll published by Channel 12.

Eighteen percent of Israelis thought neither Netanyahu nor Bennett is up to the task, and 5% said they didn’t know who they preferred.

The poll finds that the public believes Netanyahu is more suited to the role than Opposition Leader Yair Lapid by a margin of 47% to 21%, although 29% of people don’t want either of them as prime minister and 3% said they didn’t know who they preferred.

According to Channel 12, these are the widest margins by which Netanyahu is the preferred candidate since the last elections in November 2022.

Regarding Netanyahu’s ongoing corruption trial, Channel 12 also asked respondents how they felt about US President Donald Trump’s letter to President Isaac Herzog this week, asking him to pardon the premier.

Forty-eight percent of respondents said that they opposed Trump’s request, of whom 36% said they “strongly opposed” the move. On the other side, 44% of people said they supported Trump’s involvement, of whom 23% said they “strongly supported” it. Eight percent of people said they didn’t know how they felt about it.

As for Netanyahu’s trial itself, respondents were asked what they thought the ideal outcome would be.

In response, 32% of people said they believed Netanyahu should accept a plea deal that would see him retire from politics for good. Another 27%  said the trial should be canceled, and 23% said the trial should continue until the judges reach a verdict.

Finally, just 9% of respondents said that Netanyahu should accept a plea deal that would allow him to continue his political career, and another 9% said they didn’t know what would be best.

As for the makeup of the 120-seat Knesset if elections were to be held today, the poll found that neither side would be able to form a government.

The largest party would be Netanyahu’s Likud, with 27 seats, followed by Bennett’s party with 22 seats.

The left-wing Democrats, headed by Yair Golan, would come in third with 10 seats.

The centrist Yesh Atid, ultra-Orthodox Shas, hawkish Yisrael Beytenu, and ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit parties would receive nine seats each, the poll shows.

Gadi Eisenkot’s “Yashar!” party would win eight seats and ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism would receive seven.

The Islamist Ra’am party and Arab-majority Hadash-Ta’al would receive five seats each.

Finance Minister Bezal Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party would not pass the required 3.25% voter threshold to enter the Knesset, nor would Palestinian nationalist party Balad or Yoaz Hendel’s HaMiluimnikim.

The right-wing and Haredi parties that make up the current coalition would fall short of the 60 seats needed to form a government, with just 52 seats.

The Zionist anti-Netanyahu bloc would be larger, but would also come up short, with 58 seats.

This means that anyone seeking to form a government would need to rely on Ra’am or Hadash-Ta’al, and it is not clear if any party is willing to do so, nor if Ra’am or Hadash-Ta’al themselves would want to.

The poll was conducted on November 13 with 501 participants and has a margin of error of 4.4%.