Dramatic mandate poll: Netanyahu and Eisenkot weaken, Ofer Winter changes the map
A dramatic political development in a new poll presents a turnaround in the premiership, as Benjamin Netanyahu loses ground against two main rivals and a new right-wing party reshuffles the blocks.
The entry of Ofer Winter into the political arena, alongside a dramatic unification in the Arab sector, is recalculating the mandate trajectory according to a 'Maariv' poll. Winter's new party, 'Amha Yisrael', garners 5 mandates and changes the balance of power on the right, pushing the 'Religious Zionism' party led by Bezalel Smotrich below the electoral threshold with only 3%.
At the same time, the triple union of Hadash, Ta'al, and Balad gives the Joint List 8 mandates, and together with the 5 mandates of Ra'am, the Arab parties reach 13 mandates.
In the full distribution of mandates, the 'Yashar!' party of Gadi Eisenkot leads the map with 25 mandates, followed by Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party with 20 mandates. The 'Beyahad' party of Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid wins 15 mandates. Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party has 9 mandates. The 'Otzma Yehudit' party reaches 8 mandates, as does United Torah Judaism. Shas has 7 mandates and Winter's party, 'Amha Yisrael', ties with Ra'am with 5 mandates each.
The picture of the blocks shows complexity: the coalition block stands at only 43 mandates (rising to 48 with the addition of Winter's party), while the Zionist opposition stands at 59 mandates. A number of parties remained outside and did not pass the electoral threshold: 'Religious Zionism' (3%), 'Zionist Reservists' House' (2%), the 'Economic Party' (1.5%), and 'Blue and White' which weakened to 0.6%.
In the shadow of these data, an examination of suitability for the premiership shows that Gadi Eisenkot (48%) and Naftali Bennett (45%) lead over Benjamin Netanyahu (37% and 40% respectively), while against Avigdor Lieberman (37%), Netanyahu maintains an advantage with 40%.
