Israeli election poll: Benny Gantz regains decisive lead over Netanyahu

• Published date: 02 June 2023
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

According to the poll, conducted by Panels Politics for Maariv, the National Unity Party would garner 29 mandates to Likud's 26. Overall, the current coalition would reduce to 52 seats while the opposition would grow to 68

Were the Labor and Meretz parties to merge, the new poll determined that together they would receive a total of 8 seats.

A Labor-Meretz merger would also effectively eliminate the possibility that both parties fail to reach the requisite amount of votes for a seat in Knesset, which is what happened to the Meretz party in the latest round of elections.

The issue of prime ministership

The question of prime ministership maintains the same answer as previous polls: Benny Gantz is in the lead with 43% of respondents ranking him as their first choice for prime minister. 39% of respondents stated they would like Benjamin Netanyahu to continue in his current role.

According to the poll, 14% of Israelis who voted for the parties currently in the coalition hold Gantz in higher esteem than Netanyahu and would prefer him as prime minister.

Yesh Atid, Shas, United Torah Judaism, Chadash-Ta'al, Religious Zionism and Yisrael Beitenu all maintained their...