Maariv poll: The opposition widens the gap with Netanyahu’s coalition to 6 seats

Tel Aviv - Ofoq News - The last opinion poll before the 2026 elections showed a noticeable fluctuation in the distribution of seats. Although the difference between the two main parties does not exceed two seats, the difference between the two blocs has widened significantly to reach six seats. This is what was revealed by an opinion poll conducted by the Maariv newspaper.

The ruling coalition only won 48 seats this week, due to the fact that the Amach Yisrael party, led by Ofer Winter, did not exceed the electoral threshold, as it obtained only 3% of the votes, while the electoral threshold was 3.25%. On the other hand, the Change Bloc was strengthened and its share reached 54 seats.

It is expected that the coalition map will change to 50 seats for the coalition, compared to 56 seats for the opposition, and 14 seats for the Arab parties.

It also turned out that the United Torah Judaism and Otzma Yehudit parties lost one seat each, while Likud, Shas, and Religious Zionism each gained one seat. Overall, the coalition of parties fell by three seats compared to the opinion poll conducted last week.

In the opposition bloc, the most notable change was the rise of the Ofek News party led by Naftali Bennett, as it gained two additional seats, bringing it to 15 seats.

On the other hand, the Yashar! Led by Gadi Eisenkot (21 seats) and the Yisrael Beytenu party (8 seats) without change. The poll also shows that the "Economic Reserves" party narrowly exceeded the electoral threshold, winning 4 seats.

The Maariv newspaper poll also showed that the percentage of Israelis who are certain that they will vote in the Knesset elections on Tuesday continues to rise, reaching 81% this time, a number that indicates an expected increase in voting rates compared to the 2022 elections, which until then was at 71%.

Also, the noticeable increase in the percentage of Arab party voters who are confident of going to the polls rose from 74% on October 8 to 81% in the current poll, a number equivalent to the national average.

These numbers may lead to the Arab party bloc obtaining a much larger number of seats in the current elections than it obtained in the current Knesset.

The poll also showed that Gadi Eisenkot is still ahead of Benjamin Netanyahu in opinion polls, receiving 49% versus 41%, respectively.

As for Naftali Bennett, who tied with Netanyahu with 43% in the previous poll, he leads this time with 45% compared to 43% for Netanyahu.

Also in this poll, the majority of Israelis (60%) preferred forming a unity government if the results of the Knesset elections were not decided. Most of them (33%) wanted it to be headed by the leader of the Change Bloc, while 19% preferred for it to be headed by Netanyahu.