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MembersIsrael’s polls go crazy

Likud between 19 and 26 seats – the new party of former IDF General Ofer Winter achieves eight seats or fails to clear the electoral threshold, depending on the poll.

Ofer Winter (C.) at the presentation of his new party Amcha Yisrael in Jerusalem, August 25, 2026. Photo: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90
Ofer Winter (C.) at the presentation of his new party Amcha Yisrael in Jerusalem, August 25, 2026. Photo: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90

Anyone who has been following Israeli politics for some time knows that opinion polls should be viewed with a certain degree of caution. Not because polls are meaningless. They can certainly reveal moods and shifts among voters. But whether they can actually predict what the next Knesset will look like is an entirely different question.

I am particularly cautious when it comes to Likud. Its voter base has not always been easy for pollsters to capture in the past. Add to that the distrust many Likud supporters have toward parts of the Israeli media. Whether every respondent will openly tell a pollster what they will actually vote on election day is, at the very least, a legitimate question.

The latest figures provide a pretty good example of why polls should not be confused with election results.

Several new polls not only show different results — in some cases, they paint entirely different political realities.

This is particularly evident when looking at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud and the newly founded party “Amcha Yisrael” of General (ret.) Ofer Winter.

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Patrick Callahan

This is an example of author bio/description. Beard fashion axe trust fund, post-ironic listicle scenester. Uniquely mesh maintainable users rather than plug-and-play testing procedures.

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