ToI poll shows Bennett gaining ground at Eisenkot's expense, but deadlock persists

Zman Yisrael survey shows Yashar slipping to 23 seats while Likud remains at 21, suggesting Netanyahu party’s primary election this week didn’t have any significant impact on the race

A new opinion poll published Thursday by Zman Yisrael, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister site, showed a bump in support for Naftali Bennett’s B’Yachad party at the expense of Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar, but featured no change in the deadlock between the pro-Netanyahu and anti-Netanyahu blocs if the October 27 elections were held today.

Yashar remained the biggest party but lost two seats, dropping to 23, while Netanyahu’s ruling Likud stayed at 21, and B’Yachad got 15, gaining two seats after consistently losing ground over the past few months.

Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu got 11 seats, Shas 9, United Torah Judaism and The Democrats 8 each, Hadash-Ta’al-Balad and Otzma Yehudit 7 each, Religious Zionism 6, and Ra’am 5.

Chili Tropper and Yoaz Hendel’s centrist Zionist Home fell just below the 3.25 percent electoral threshold with 3%, Benny Gantz’s fellow centrist Blue and White got 2.4%, and Gilad Erdan’s new right-wing party got just 0.8%. These three parties are not aligned with either bloc.

The pro-Netanyahu bloc stayed at 51 seats in the 120-member Knesset, while the Zionist anti-Netanyahu parties got 57, both short of a majority. The Islamist Ra’am and the mostly Arab Hadash-Ta’al-Balad are not included in either bloc, but the anti-Netanyahu bloc could end up teaming up with Ra’am.

The poll included 500 respondents and was conducted on August 19-20, with a 4.4% margin of error.

Surveys published Wednesday by the Kan public broadcaster and Channel 13 news similarly showed deadlock between the blocs, although the latter poll put the anti-Netanyahu coalition at 59 seats and had Eisenkot’s Yashar winning 26 seats.

The ToI poll was taken after the Likud primary election on Tuesday. Analysts believe maneuvering by Netanyahu to increase control over the Likud electoral slate and marginalize hardliners was designed to make the party more palatable to the general public and raise its haul in the general election, although the survey results suggested the primary did not have a marked impact on voters’ preferences.