The Likud Party would garner 33 mandates in the 120-seat Knesset if a vote were held now, according to a "Channel 14" survey.
(Feb. 7, 2025 / JNS) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government scored record high numbers in a new poll, with his Likud Party winning 33 Knesset seats if an election were held now.
Together with his right-wing coalition, Netanyahu would control a total of 63 seats in the 120-seat parliament, according to Direct Polls, which conducted the survey for Israel’s Channel 14.
The opposition parties would take 57 seats, including 10 for the Arab parties.
The numbers show a continued recovery for Likud, up two seats from a Direct Polls survey on Jan. 23, when the Likud Party scored 31 mandates.
A Direct Polls survey reported by Channel 14 on Jan. 16 found the Likud’s popularity dropping sharply on news of an impending truce with the Hamas terrorist group, securing only 29 seats, down five since a previous survey published on Jan. 2.
Excluding that poll, Netanyahu’s coalition has been showing a consistent climb upward by Direct Polls. The firm accurately predicted the results of the Jewish state’s most recent general election on Nov. 1, 2022.
The Democrats Party, a new party combining the former Meretz and Labor parties, scored the the next highest result with 16 seats in the current survey. However, that was a drop of one seat from the Jan. 23 poll.
Results for the coalition parties are: Shas (11), United Torah Judaism (8), Religious Zionism (6) and Otzma Yehudit (5).
The opposition results are: Yisrael Beiteinu (15), National Unity Party (10) and Yesh Atid (6); the Arab parties dropped one mandate from the previous polls with Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am (the United Arab List) each at five seats.
In head-to-head matchups as to who would be best suited in the role of prime minister, Netanyahu defeated National Unity Party’s Benny Gantz, 50%-to-17% (33% of respondents said neither).
In a matchup with Yesh Atid’s Yair Lapid, Netanyahu won 51%-to-29% (another 29% said neither).
The poll also found that 68% of coalition supporters believe that Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben-Gvir and the rest of his party should return to the coalition.
On Jan. 19, Ben-Gvir resigned from Netanyahu’s government in protest of the ceasefire-for-hostages deal, saying it signified “the end of the war before Hamas is beaten.”
Ben-Gvir said he would return to the coalition on condition that the war against Hamas resumed.
The poll was conducted on Feb. 6 and sampled 506 adults (18+), consisting of a representative sample of the population. The statistical sampling error 4.5% ± with a 95% confidence level.