TV poll shows new Lapid-Bennett ‘Together’ party edging out Likud as largest
Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s combined electoral list, dubbed “Together,” would receive a total of 26 seats if elections were held today, placing them ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud as the Knesset’s largest party, according to a new poll by Channel 12.
In the poll, the network’s first since last night’s announcement of the union, Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc only garnered 50 out of 120 Knesset seats while the Zionist opposition parties received 60 and the Arab factions 10 — an identical showing to last Thursday’s Channel 12 survey.
The combined Bennett-Lapid platform’s showing of 26 seats is one less than the two received separately in that previous poll, in which Bennett 2026 and Yesh Atid garnered 21 and 7 seats, respectively.
Together is followed by Likud with 25 seats; Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar at 15; The Democrats at 10; Shas, Yisrael Beytenu and Otzma Yehudit at 9 each; United Torah Judaism at 7; and Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am each with 5.
Balad, The Reservists, Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism, and Benny Gantz’s Blue and White all fall below the electoral threshold.
According to the poll, in the event that Eisenkot would join Bennett and Lapid in a single list, their united party would garner 41 seats, but the overall balance of the blocs would remain unaffected. Thus far, Eisenkot has declined to join Together, despite reportedly having proposed a merger with Bennett and Lapid in January.
Meanwhile, the poll also finds that, should several right-wing critics of Netanyahu establish an alternative party on the right, dubbed Likud B by the press, it would siphon away support from both the coalition and opposition, and would ultimately weaken the opposition bloc’s overall standing.
The poll, carried out by Mano Geva, surveyed 501 Israelis via internet and phone, with a margin of error of +-4.4%.
According to a Channel 13 poll also released this evening, the coalition would receive 57 seats, up three from the network’s last poll, while the opposition gets 52 and the Arab parties 11 mandates. And a Walla poll released earlier today showed Together garnering 27 seats, with Likud rising to 28. With Eisenkot, Together would receive 41 seats — with the opposition standing at 59 mandates and the coalition 51.
The Times of Israel Community.







