The distribution of Knesset seats remained unchanged this week, against the backdrop of uncertainty on the security, diplomatic, and political fronts, Friday's Maariv poll revealed.
The poll, conducted by Lazar Research, headed by Dr. Menachem Lazar, in cooperation with Panel4ALL, showed that among the opposition parties, the Democrats have failed to return to double digits after losing two seats last week, falling to nine, below the level recorded before the party’s primaries.
Nevertheless, the overall picture remains unchanged. The coalition retains 49 seats, compared with 57 for the Zionist opposition parties, which could reach a 61-seat majority with the four seats held by the Zionist Home party, led by Chili Tropper and Yoaz Hendel.
The Arab parties remain at 10 seats, while the effect of the contacts between Mansour Abbas and Yoav Segalovitz has yet to be reflected in the polls. Balad, at 1.4%, and Blue and White, at 1.2%, also remain well below the electoral threshold.
The poll also found that most Israelis, 55%, oppose including Ra’am in a future coalition, even if Segalovitz is placed second on the party’s Knesset list. Twenty percent support the move, while 25% have no opinion.
Most Israelis, 54%, also oppose the published road map for an agreement in Gaza. Opposition rises to 72% among voters for coalition parties. Twenty-four percent support the plan, while 22% have no opinion.
Bennett, Eisenkot still beating Netanyahu in poll for prime minister suitability
This week’s poll also found that the gap between Naftali Bennett, with 43% support, and Benjamin Netanyahu, with 40%, on the question of suitability to serve as prime minister remained unchanged.
The gap in favor of Gadi Eisenkot over Netanyahu also remained unchanged, at 47% compared with 38%, respectively.
Netanyahu continues to lead Avigdor Liberman, with 42% compared with 38%, also showing no significant change from previous weeks.
The poll was conducted before Gilad Erdan and Yuli Edelstein announced the establishment of a new party that will run in the Knesset elections.
The poll was conducted on July 5 and 6. A total of 3,514 people were invited to participate, and 502 respondents, or 14%, completed it. The respondents constituted a representative sample of Israel’s adult population aged 18 and over, including Jews and Arabs. The poll’s maximum sampling error was 4.4%.