Jeremy's Knesset Insider

This week’s polling underscores Naftali Bennett’s emergence as the dominant alternative in the national leadership landscape. Voters increasingly identify Bennett as the most credible challenger, and in head-to-head prime-minister matchups he now performs almost on par with the incumbent, well ahead of all other contenders.

Issue Trends

This week’s polling cycle places leadership and economic sentiment squarely at the center of public opinion. In head-to-head matchups for prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu leads Naftali Bennett, yet both perform notably better than the rest of the field. Against Yair Lapid and Gadi Eisenkot, the “Don’t Know” category actually outperforms both challengers, underscoring significant voter hesitation about the current political bench beyond Netanyahu and Bennett.

Among opposition voters, Bennett emerges as the preferred leader, despite not holding a Knesset seat. His advantage over Eisenkot, Liberman, Lapid, and Golan signals both a vacuum in the elected opposition and the resonance of Bennett’s centrist-right positioning with voters searching for an alternative.

Policy sentiment is equally decisive. A clear majority opposes the government’s draft-exemption legislation, and most respondents say its primary purpose is to exempt most Haredim from service rather than increase enlistment. Meanwhile, nearly half say cost-of-living pressure will influence their next vote to the same extent as in 2022, while more than a third say it will play an even larger role, making it a dominant electoral issue moving forward.

Bloc Trends

Across nearly all polls, the Bennett bloc continues to outperform the Netanyahu bloc, reaffirming the competitive nature of the political landscape and the continuing erosion of automatic pro-Netanyahu support. Within the blocs, Avigdor Liberman and Yair Golan show remarkably stable ranges (9–11 seats), Lapid fluctuates more dramatically (4–10 seats), and Eisenkot shows modest, steady performance (5–8 seats). These dynamics illustrate the fluidity within Bennett’s bloc, with no single figure consolidating broad support beyond the leader.

Eyes on the Threshold

The threshold battles remain highly volatile. Benny Gantz fails to cross the electoral threshold in any survey, ranging from a high of 3 percent to a low of 1.2 percent. Bezalel Smotrich passes the threshold in only two polls, peaking at four seats but dropping to as low as 2 percent in others. Hendel has a high of four seats and a low of 1.6 percent, while Balad continues to hover below the threshold, polling between 2.8 percent and 1.3 percent. These margins underscore a crowded and unstable environment at the bottom of the political spectrum, with several parties at risk of wasting votes.

What to Expect Next

With the government budget now approved, political attention, and the polling that follows it, is expected to keep shifting heavily toward cost-of-living issues. In wake of budget talks in Knesset, inflation, wages, and consumer prices are likely to dominate the coming news cycle and voter sentiment.

Pollster	Publisher	Date	Sample Size	Margin of Error
Tatika	Zman Yisrael	10–11 Dec 2025	500	4.4%
Midgam	Channel 12	11 Dec 2025	503	4.4%
Maagar Mochot	Channel 13	5 Dec 2025	—	—
Lazar/Panels	Maariv	10–11 Dec 2025	500	4.4%
Filber	Channel 14	11 Dec 2025	—	—

Party	Zman Yisrael	Channel 12	Channel 13	Maariv	Channel 14
Likud	28	27	23	28	35
Bennett	21	22	19	20	13
Yesh Atid	10	9	9	8	4
Shas	10	9	10	9	11
Yisrael Beiteinu	10	9	10	11	10
Democrats	9	11	10	11	10
UTJ	8	7	6	7	8
Otzma Yehudit	6	8	9	8	7
Ra’am	5	5	4	5	6
Yashar	5	8	6	8	7
Hadash–Ta’al	4	5	6	5	5
Miluimnikim	4	1.6%	4	2.8%	4
Religious Zionism	2.4%	2%	4	2.8%	4
Blue & White	1.8%	2.9%	3%	2.9%	1.2%
Balad	—	1.3%	2.8%	2%	2.5%

Poll	Bennett Bloc	Netanyahu Bloc	Arab Bloc
Zman Yisrael	59	52	9
Channel 12	59	51	10
Channel 13	58	52	10
Maariv	58	52	10
Channel 14	44	65	11

Poll	Question	Result
Channel 12	PM suitability: Netanyahu vs Bennett	Netanyahu 39%, Bennett 33%, Don’t Know 28%
Channel 12	PM suitability: Netanyahu vs Lapid	Netanyahu 43%, Don’t Know 35%, Lapid 22%
Channel 12	PM suitability: Netanyahu vs Eisenkot	Netanyahu 42%, Don’t Know 31%, Eisenkot 27%
Channel 12	Best opposition leader	Bennett 33%, Eisenkot 18%, Liberman 16%, Lapid 13%, Golan 10%, Don’t Know 10%
Channel 12	Cost of living importance	Same 48%, More 36%, Don’t Know 9%, Less 7%,
Channel 13	Draft-exemption bill support	Oppose 57%, Support 29%, Don’t Know 14%
Channel 13	Draft bill purpose	Exempt Haredim 49%, Increase recruitment 38%, Don’t Know 13%
Channel 14	PM suitability (full field)	Netanyahu 53%, Bennett 22%, Eisenkot 10%, Lapid 7%, Liberman 7%, Gantz 1%, Don’t Know 0%