Support for a new right-wing party composed of Avigdor Liberman, Naftali Bennett, Yossi Cohen, Ayelet Shaked, and Gideon Sa’ar has increased in strength to 29 seats, according to a Maariv survey conducted by Dr. Menachem Lazar in collaboration with Panel4All that was completed on Thursday.
This party would establish itself as the largest party, with a significant lead of 10 seats over Likud, which would follow with 19, according to the poll.
The main loser from the two-seat strengthening of the right-wing party from the last poll is the National Unity Party, which would lose seven seats and drop to just 16 according to this survey.
The data also showed that the Religious Zionist Party would fall below the electoral threshold in such a scenario, garnering only 2.7% support.
The opposition bloc significantly strengthens in this scenario, reaching 66 seats, excluding the Arab parties, allowing it to form a relatively stable coalition.
The Maariv survey also demonstrated that when a new reservists’ party led by Yoaz Hendel is added to this scenario, the new party would receive six seats.
The opposition would strengthen to 68 seats
These seats come primarily from the United Right Party (two), the Likud and Yesh Atid (one each), and undecided voters (two seats). The opposition would increase to 68 seats.
Therefore, in such a scenario, also without the Religious Zionist Party, the opposition (including the reservists’ party) strengthens to 68 seats, while the current coalition drops to only 42.
The poll also showed that the gap regarding who Israelis believed was most suitable for the role of prime minister – either Benny Gantz (43%) or Benjamin Netanyahu (36%) – still stands at 7%, similar to what it was in a previous survey.
Conversely, both Liberman and Yair Lapid trail Netanyahu by only a 4% margin. However, Bennett, with 48% support (the same as in the previous survey), has increased his lead over Netanyahu by three percentage points, from 33% to 36%.
In the current survey, the coalition bloc has 50 seats, compared to 47 in the previous survey, as the Religious Zionist Party now passes the electoral threshold. Moreover, the opposition has 60 seats and the Arab parties have 10 seats. It should be noted that in this survey, Yisrael Beytenu surpassed Yesh Atid with 14 seats compared to 13.
According to this scenario, the current coalition bloc has 42 seats, the opposition bloc has 62, the reservists’ party has six, and the Arab parties have 10.
In response to the question, “Who is more suitable to be the Israeli prime minister, Netanyahu or Liberman?” 37% of respondents answered Netanyahu, and 33% answered Liberman. Nearly a third were undecided.
In answer to the question, “Who is more suitable to be the Israeli prime minister, Netanyahu or Bennett?” 48% of respondents chose Bennett, and a third chose Netanyahu. A fifth were uncertain.
Conducted between July 3 and 4, there were 600 participants in the survey, representing a sample of the adult population in Israel, 18 and older, consisting of both Jews and Arabs. The margin of error is 4.2%.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.