Dramatic mandate poll: Netanyahu receives two excellent pieces of news and one bad one
A Kan News poll presents a changing political picture: two important parties for the right-wing pass the electoral threshold, while Likud and Otzma Yehudit weaken. Netanyahu strengthens within his bloc and returns to lead against Bennett in suitability for Prime Minister.
The election poll by Kan News, published this Sunday, presents changes in the mandate map, as for the first time the Amach Yisrael party led by Ofer Winter and the Religious Zionism party led by Bezalel Smotrich both pass the electoral threshold.
According to the poll, Amach Yisrael receives 4 mandates, while Religious Zionism receives 5 mandates. At the same time, Likud led by Benjamin Netanyahu weakens to 21 mandates, a decrease of one mandate compared to the previous poll and 3 mandates compared to the beginning of the month, when the party stood at 24 mandates.
Otzma Yehudit led by Itamar Ben Gvir also weakens, dropping from 9 to 7 mandates, its lowest result in a poll.
Parties in the camp opposing Netanyahu also recorded declines. The Democrats party led by Yair Golan and Yisrael Beiteinu led by Avigdor Lieberman each lose one mandate, standing at 9 and 8 mandates respectively.
On the other hand, Yashar! led by Gadi Eisenkot maintains its strength with 24 mandates, as does the Beyachad party led by Naftali Bennett, which receives 14 mandates.
Despite this, following the decline in the strength of the Democrats and Yisrael Beiteinu, the anti-Netanyahu bloc drops to 55 mandates, compared to 57 in the previous poll. The Netanyahu bloc strengthens to 52 mandates, compared to 51 in the previous poll. The Arab parties together receive 13 mandates, following the strengthening of the Joint List.
There is also a change in the question of suitability for Prime Minister. Netanyahu returns to lead over Bennett, with 37% of respondents believing he is more suitable for the position, compared to 36% who chose Bennett. Eisenkot still leads against Netanyahu on this question, with 40% compared to 37%.
The poll also examined scenarios of a merger between Smotrich and Ben Gvir. According to the results, a joint run by the two would yield 10 mandates, compared to 12 mandates in the event they run separately. In this scenario, Amach Yisrael led by Winter strengthens to 5 mandates.
In a scenario where Smotrich merges with Moshe Feiglin's party, Religious Zionism reaches 7 mandates, a number identical to that of Ben Gvir. In such a case, Winter does not pass the electoral threshold.
In all scenarios tested, the parties of Benny Gantz, Gilad Erdan, and Matan Kahana do not pass the electoral threshold.
