The Israeli electorate is losing faith in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a new poll by the Midgam Institute reveals.
According to the data, collected on the six-month anniversary of the war in Gaza, 49% of respondents believe Netanyahu’s decisions are driven by political motives, while only 35% think he acts based on practical reasons. This sentiment was not confined to just the prime minister’s critics; even within the pro-Netanyahu bloc, 24% perceive his actions as politically motivated. Among his opponents, this figure jumps to 75%.
Public opinion on the government’s efforts to return hostages from Gaza was largely critical, with only 14% fully convinced of its adequacy, and a total of 39% affirmatively responding. Conversely, 56% were dissatisfied with the efforts, including a substantial 80% of Netanyahu’s opponents and 30% within his own bloc.
The prospect of early elections was also explored, with 50% of respondents in favor of moving the elections up, 41% opposing the idea, and 9% undecided.
Should today’s elections take place, Benny Gantz’s National Unity Party is projected to lead with 32 seats, outpacing Netanyahu’s Likud Party at 19 seats. The remaining seats in the 120-seat Knesset would be claimed by a variety of smaller parties from the right, center, and left of Israel’s political spectrum. Such a distribution would enable a center-left coalition, anchored by the National Unity Party, to assemble a solid majority of 73 seats.
