Bennett-led party could come in second following Likud, survey finds

If elections were to be held today, a party led by former prime minister Naftali Bennett would come in second in contenders for the Knesset according to a Channel 12 poll on Wednesday.

The survey attempted to evaluate the political map following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's firing of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant earlier this week. 

Under the current party structure, the Likud party led by Netanyahu would remain the leading party, garnering 25 seats. Benny Gantz's National Unity party would come in second with 20 seats, followed by Yesh Atid, led by Yair Lapid with 15 seats. Avigdor Liberman's Yisrael Beytenu would yield 13 seats, and the new left-wing party The Democrats led by Yair Golan would receive 11 seats. 

Shas, headed by Arye Deri, would receive ten mandates, according to the survey. United Torah Judaism under Yitzhak Goldknopf and Otzma Yehudit, led by Itamar Ben-Gvir, would both garner 8 seats. Hadash-Ta'al under Ayman Odeh and Ra'am headed by Mansour Abbas would garner five seats each. 

Further, the survey found that the opposition block, including Hadash-Ta'al, would receive 69 seats while the coalition would gain 51 seats. 

Opposition to Gallant's firing

55% of the respondents to the poll opposed the firing of Gallant, of which 58% were supporters of the Netanyahu bloc. 

Some 17% of respondents said they were in favor of Israel Katz's appointment as defense minister, and about 56% said Gallant should remain in his position.