Poll shows pro-Netanyahu bloc pulling even with opponents, in sharp shift

A Channel 13 poll shows the bloc of parties supporting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pulling even with his opponents, in a stark shift from most polls, though it predicts neither side would be close to attaining a majority of the Knesset.

The poll shows the pro- and anti-Netanyahu blocs winning 53 seats each, eight shy of a 61-seat majority. Arab parties hold the balance of 14 seats.

That’s a significant change from the previous Channel 13 poll a week ago, which showed the opposition leading the pro-Netanyahu parties 57 to 48, with 15 for the Arab parties.

The change appears largely due to two right-wing pro-Netanyahu parties making it into the Knesset: Ofter Winter’s People of Israel, with four seats, and the new merger of the far-right Religious Zionism and Zehut parties, with six.

In addition, Netanyahu’s Likud party narrows its gap with the election frontrunner, the opposition Yashar party led by Gadi Eisenkot. Last week, Channel 13 found that Yashar would win 24 and Likud 19. This week, however, Yashar would win 22, just one more than Likud’s 21.

The addition of Jewish former lawmaker Yoav Segalovitz to the Arab Ra’am party does not change its polling performance, at five seats. But the mainly Arab Joint List has been rising in recent surveys, weakening the Zionist opposition bloc, and reaching 9 seats in the new poll.

The poll had 940 respondents and a 3.4% margin of error.