Channel 12 survey finds 66% prefer Republican candidate; separate poll finds Netanyahu preferred to former PM Bennett as Likud rises amid war successes

Israelis massively favor Republican Donald Trump over Democrat Kamala Harris in the upcoming US presidential elections, according to a poll published Monday.

When asked who they preferred as the next US president, 66 percent chose the former president, while only 17% said they wanted to see the US vice president win the election. A further 17% said they did not know.

Among Israelis who vote for parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conservative coalition, the party found a whopping 93% support for Trump and only 1% for Harris.

The  Channel 12 news poll noted that US President Joe Biden was briefly favored by the Israeli public last year, when he threw his full support behind Israel after the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre that sparked the ongoing fighting with Iran-backed terror groups in Gaza and Lebanon.

However, that good feeling appears to have dissipated, as the US has sought to restrain Israel over the past year. Trump pushed a series of pro-Israel moves during his time in office, including moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights, and taking a tougher stance against Iran. A week before election day, tensions in the US are soaring in a race polls suggest is too close to call, fueled by fears that former president Trump could again refuse to recognize a defeat, as in 2020, and by his harsh rhetoric threatening migrants and political opponents.

Netanyahu rising

Meanwhile, a separate poll also published by Channel 12 on Monday indicated a rise in the popularity of Netanyahu and his Likud party in light of recent war successes. The survey showed that the premier is now preferred over former prime minister Naftali Bennett. Despite the rise, the poll found that Netanyahu could not form a government with his current coalition.

According to the poll, if an election were to be held today, Likud would win 26 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Benny Gantz’s National Unity would get 22 seats, while Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid would get 13.

Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu would get 13 and the ultra-Orthodox Shas would win 10, as would The Democrats — the unified left-wing Labor and Meretz under Yair Golan.

The ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism got eight seats in the poll, as did far-right Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit, while the two Arab-majority parties Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am each won five.

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