According to the latest Direct Polls survey, conducted by Shlomo Filber in the wake of the release on Monday of the remaining 20 living hostages held in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approval ratings are at their highest since the elections in Nov. 2022.
The results of the poll were published on Wednesday by Israel’s Channel 14. Where suitability to serve as prime minister is concerned, the poll revealed that 58% of Israelis favor Netanyahu; 22% favor his closest rival, Naftali Bennett; and 11% favor former minister-without-portfolio (and former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff) Gadi Eizenkot; 4% favor opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid; 4% favor Yisrael Beiteinu Party leader Avigdor Liberman; and 1% favor National Unity Party head Benny Gantz.
The poll also found that if elections were held today, Netanyahu’s ruling coalition would win a 66-seat majority, two more seats than it won in the 2022 elections; opposition parties would garner 43 seats; and the anti-Zionist Arab parties would receive 11 seats.
According to the poll, Netanyahu’s Likud Party would garner 35 seats, three more than it won in the 2022 elections; Bennett’s eponymous party would win 13 seats; Lapid’s Yesh Atid Party would garner 4 seats, just passing the minimal limit for entering the Knesset.
The poll was conducted on Oct. 15, 2025, with 486 participants representing the entire population. Direct Polls was the only polling firm that accurately predicted the results of the 2022 Knesset elections and the 2024 municipal elections.
