Following the announcement Thursday morning that former IDF chief Benny Gantz's Israel Resilience Party had reached a deal with Yesh Atid to run on a joint ticket, the country's TV stations rushed to poll the public.
According to polls by Channels 12 and 13, if the election were held today, the new joint list, known as Blue and White, would win 36 seats. A Kan 11 News polls projected 35 seats for the Blue and White list.
According to Channel 12, the Likud under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would win 30 seats. Labor would win eight seats and Meretz would barely scrape by the minimum electoral threshold with four seats.
Channel 12 predicted seven seats for United Torah Judaism; six seats for the New Right party under Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked; six seats for Balad and Ra'am, two Arab parties that are running together; and five seats for the Shas.
According to Channel 12, parties hovering near the minimum electoral threshold include Yisrael Beytenu, Habayit Hayehudi-National Union, Kulanu, and Meretz.
Channel 13 predicted that Likud would drop to 26 seats, 10 fewer than the Blue and White list. The Ta'al and Hadash Arab parties, which broke off from the Joint Arab List, were predicted to win 10 seats.
Channel 13 predicted eight seats for Habayit Hayehudi-National Union; seven for United Torah Judaism, six for Shas, and five seats each for Labor and Yisrael Beytenu.
The Channel 13 poll also predicted that Kulanu and Meretz would be on the brink of the electoral threshold.
The Kan 11 poll showed a narrower gap between Blue and White and Likud, with 35 seats predicted for the former and 32 seats for Netanyahu's party.
The Kan 11 poll predicted that the Ta'al-Hadash list would win 11 seats, making it the third-biggest party in the Knesset. Kan 11 also predicted eight seats for Labor, seven seats for the New Right, and six seats each for Habayit Hayehudi-National Union, United Torah Judaism, and Shas.
According to Kan 11, Yisrael Beytenu would win five seats and Meretz would win four.
