Almost half of respondents to an N12 News poll believe that both the government and IDF are equally responsible for the failures of the October 7 massacre, the Israeli news outlet's survey found on Monday.
Of those polled, 47% held this view, compared with 25% who placed responsibility on the government but not the IDF; 17% blamed the IDF but not the government; and 11% were unsure.
The poll also asked to what extent respondents believe that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bears personal responsibility for the failures.
Almost two-thirds of respondents (65%) said the prime minister bears "a great deal of responsibility," while 22% said he bears "some" responsibility, 6% said he bears no responsibility, and 7% were unsure.
The poll also broke down the political alignment of the 65% who said he bore "a great deal of responsibility," with 91% of opposition bloc voters holding this view, as compared with 27% of coalition voters.
Do Israelis want a state commission of inquiry into October 7?
N12 News also surveyed public opinion on establishing an October 7 State Commission of Inquiry. Of those surveyed, 66% supported this, 21% opposed it, and 13% were unsure. The results also broke down by political alignment: 93% of opposition bloc voters, 37% of coalition voters, and 80% of Arab party voters supported establishing a commission.
The survey also explored how the October 7 massacre, Israel's failures, and its consequences affected how people intend to vote in the upcoming Knesset election.
Overall, about half of respondents said it affected their decision. Of these, 15% said it affected their decision "to a very great extent," 18% "to a great extent," and 22% "to a small extent."
Additionally, 41% of respondents said it did not affect their decision at all, while 4% were unsure whether it had any effect.
Opposition bloc leads coalition 54-49, latest N12 News Knesset elections poll shows
The poll also directly queried which political parties Israelis intend to vote for in the Knesset election, slated for October 27.
The poll forecasted that Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party would be the largest single party, with 23 seats, ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud, which polled at 21 seats.
The Knesset has 120 seats, divided proportionally among all parties that pass the 3% electoral threshold.
In total, the opposition bloc received 54 seats, the coalition received 49, Arab parties received 13, and the Reservists-Economic Party, led by Yoaz Hendel and Yaron Zelekha, received four seats.
Additionally, Naftali Bennett's B'Yachad received 13 seats, Avigdor Liberman's Yisrael Beytenu and Yair Golan's The Democrats received nine seats each.
The Joint List of Hadash, Ta'al, and Balad received eight seats, as did Ashkenazi haredi (ultra-Orthodox) party United Torah Judaism. The Sephardi haredi party, Shas, received seven seats, as did Itamar Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit, the poll found.
The alliance between Religious Zionist Party and Zehut, headed by Bezalel Smotrich and Moshe Feiglin, won six seats, and Mansour Abbas's Ra'am won five seats.
Ofer Winter's People of Israel party did not pass the electoral threshold in the latest poll, receiving 1.5% of the predicted votes.
Poll queries Israelis' preferred prime ministerial candidate, pairing Netanyahu against Bennett, Eisenkot, Liberman, respectively
The poll also queried who would be the best candidate for prime minister. When choosing between Netanyahu and Bennett, Netanyahu took the lead, with 41% of respondents backing the incumbent compared with 37% backing Bennett.
Additionally, 16% said neither is suitable, while 6% said they were unsure.
The results of this question vary widely based on political alignment, the poll found. Among coalition voters, 90% supported Netanyahu as compared to 3% who backed Bennett, while 70% of opposition voters backed Bennett while 11% supported Netanyahu.
In a contest for prime minister between Netanyahu and Eisenkot, the latter takes the lead with 41% support, compared to 38% for Netanyahu. Meanwhile, 13% said neither is suitable, and 8% were unsure.
Support also varied sharply by political alignment: 77% of coalition voters supported Netanyahu, compared with 6% for Eisenkot. However, 85% of opposition voters supported Eisenkot, while 9% supported Netanyahu. Additionally, Eisenkot led Arab party voters with 43% support, compared to Netanyahu's 37%.
Further, the poll queried suitability for prime minister between Netanyahu and Liberman, with Netanyahu taking a larger lead at 43% support, compared to 26% for Liberman. Additionally, 26% said neither of them would be suitable as prime minister, while 5% were unsure.
Among coalition voters, Netanyahu has 90% support, compared with 4% for Liberman; among opposition voters, Liberman leads with 50% support, compared with Netanyahu's 14%.
Among Arab party voters, neither Netanyahu nor Liberman would be popular as prime minister, with 59% choosing neither as their preferred candidate, while 22% backed Liberman and 5% backed Netanyahu.