Poll: Gantz holds his lead over Netanyahu, even amid New Hope split and ongoing war

National Unity party leader Benny Gantz would be able to form a ruling coalition if elections were held today, according to a new poll, though support seems to have dropped slightly amid the faction’s breakup with New Hope party chair Gideon Sa’ar last month and amid the ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza.

The poll, published by Maariv, gives Gantz’s party 32 seats, down from 33 in the newspaper’s previous poll last month but soaring from its current 12.

The parties in Netanyahu’s pre-war coalition would win just 44 Knesset seats compared to the 64 they won in the November 2022 elections, while parties in the previous ruling coalition would win 66 seats in the 120-member Knesset — down from 71 last month before the National Unity faction split.

The poll also says opposition leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party would gain three mandates putting it up to 15 seats, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party would lose two, bringing it down to 17.

The Labor party, heading for primaries next month to elect a new faction leader, would be close to the electoral threshold with four seats, the poll finds, along with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party.

The survey was conducted by Panel4All yesterday and published this morning.