Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be unable to form a government if an election was held today, a new N12 mandate poll published on Friday evening found.
Amid nationwide protests against the government's proposed judicial reform that have drawn hundreds of thousands of Israelis to the streets, and increasing security threats in the West Bank and the northern border with Lebanon, Netanyahu's Likud faction would weaken to only 29 mandates, the poll found.
Right-wing coalition sees drop in public support
Furthermore, the ruling coalition would only win 58 seats if an election was held today, finding itself as a slim minority.
A joint list of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionist Party (RZP) and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit faction would win 12 seats, down two from its 2022 election achievement of 14 mandates, while MK Arye Deri's Shas would lose one seat down to 10 and United Torah Judaism remains on seven seats won.
The National Unity party, led by former defense minister MK Benny Gantz, received 17 mandates in N12's poll, a significant rise from the 12 seats won in the election. National Unity's strengthening follows a trend observed in recent polls, with Gantz's faction winning 15 seats in a late January poll conducted by Maariv.
Meretz replaces Labor in Knesset if election held today
On the Left, the Labor party led by MK Merav Michaeli would lose all of its four Knesset seats if an election was held, according to the poll. Replacing Labor would be a resurgent Meretz, which won five seats in N12's poll.
Opposition head MK Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid faction received 23 Knesset seats in the poll, one down from its election result of 24, while MK Avigdor Liberman's Yisrael Beytenu remained steady on six mandates.
The Arab-Israeli factions in the Knesset, consisting of Ra'am and Hadash-Ta'al, would win six and five seats respectively, the poll found.