Poll shows Netanyahu preferred to Bennett as Likud rises in light of war successes

A poll published by Channel 12 news indicates that the popularity of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party has risen in light of recent war successes, with the survey now showing that he is preferred to former prime minister Naftali Bennett.

Despite the rise, the poll says Netanyahu would not be able to form a government with his current coalition.

According to the poll, were an election to be held today, Likud would win 26 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Benny Gantz’s National Unity would get 22 seats, while Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid would get 13.

Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu would get 13, the ultra-Orthodox Shas would win 10, as would The Democrats — the unified left-wing Labor and Meretz under Yair Golan.

The ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism wins eight, as does far-right Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit.

The two Arab majority parties Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am both win five.

That gives the current coalition 53 seats, with parties opposed to Netanyahu garnering 63. Hadash-Ta’al has the other five.

Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism, Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope, and the Arab Balad parties all fail to cross the election threshold.

The survey also asks who is most suited to be prime minister, although Israelis do not directly elect their leaders.

Netanyahu is favored 41-24% over Lapid, 39-27 over Gantz, and beats Bennett by 38% to 35%.

The poll finds that if Bennett were to return to politics, his party would win 21 seats — largely at the expense of Gantz and Lapid, whose parties would drop to 13 and 10 seats each. Likud would get 24 in such a scenario.

The poll also finds that Israelis are largely supportive of Israel’s recent military strikes against Iran and the offensive in Lebanon.

The poll questioned 508 Israelis and has a margin of error of 4.4%.