Over 63% of Israelis support hostage deal, Naftali Bennett rises in popularity - poll

Nearly two-thirds (63%) of Israelis, including nearly half of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc voters, support a hostage deal amid the current negotiations taking place in Qatar, according to a poll published on N12 on Friday.

Approximately a quarter of those who responded to the poll answered “they don’t know,” and 12% of respondents said they did not support the current hostage release deal.

Over half (53%) of the respondents who defined themselves as right-wing answered that they supported the deal, and only 19% opposed it. Additionally, 44% of Netanyahu's voters support the deal. Among supporters of the opposition, 85% support the deal.

In terms of support for Netanyahu, after more than ten months of war in the North and South, 36% of respondents said that Netanyahu is more suitable for the position of prime minister compared to 23% who answered that opposition leader and Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid is more suitable. However, another 36% claimed that neither of them is suitable for the position of prime minister.

When asked whether Bayit Yehudi chairman Naftali Bennett or Netanyahu is more suitable for the position of prime minister, 34% supported Bennett, and 32% supported Netanyahu. Between these two options, 29% of respondents said neither of them were suitable. 

Previous polls

Compared to previous polls conducted, Netanyahu gained a few more percentages in support. In polls conducted in July, Netanyahu gained the support of 31% of the respondents for being the most suitable for the position of prime minister, but in August, there has been a small increase in support for him.

The poll also briefly touched on satisfaction with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Among respondents, two-thirds responded that Smotrich is not doing a good job as finance minister, and only 22% said that he was doing a good job. The remainder responded that they did not know.