The Israeli government's controversial judicial overhaul has hit hard Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's approval ratings.
The slide in opinion polls came after the judicial reform decision triggered an unprecedented public backlash, battered the economy and tested the loyalties of army reservists.
Surveys by two main Israeli news broadcasters showed that if an election was held now, the number of seats held by Netanyahu's governing coalition in the 120-seat Knesset parliament would fall from 64 to 52 or 53.
Seats held by the 73-year-old premier's Likud party would fall from 32 to 28, according to N12 News, and to as low as 25, according to Reshet 13 in the polls published late Tuesday.
On Monday, the nationalist-religious coalition, formed after an election last November, passed legislation to limit some of the Supreme Court's powers, despite street protests and disapproval from Israel's strongest ally the United States.
It was the first ratification of a bill that is part of changes to the judiciary that Netanyahu casts as necessary to balance powers and stop the Supreme Court from overreaching.
Critics say he is threatening Israel's democratic principles and independence of the courts, possibly with an eye to a corruption case he himself is facing. Netanyahu denies that.
With the shekel falling around 10% since the government announced its plans in January and pressure mounting on Netanyahu, his opponents are looking to the more moderate camp in Likud to dissuade him from pushing more legislation.
"There is a hardcore over there that will follow Netanyahu blindly into any abyss. However there is a critical mass among Likud voters who are displeased with what is happening right now," said political analyst Amotz Asa-El, a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman research institute.
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, Economy Minister Nir Barkat and the Knesset's foreign affairs and defense committee head Yuli Edelstein are widely seen as among those who could push for agreements with the opposition.
At the same time, the Supreme Court has yet to decide whether it will hear petitions already filed against the new law, which came into effect Wednesday.
U.S. disquiet
The United States has lamented the Knesset vote and urged consensus but offered no hint that Netanyahu's government could face practical consequences, exposing the limits of President Joe Biden's influence over the long-serving right-wing leader.
In an unprecedented public political backlash, thousands of protesters took to the streets during Monday's vote, doctors declared a strike Tuesday, and some army reservists are resisting call-ups.
The street rallies largely subsided by Wednesday as the Knesset approached a long summer recess from July 30. Lawmakers reconvene in mid-October and Netanyahu has set November as a target for consensus with opposition parties.
Israel's largest labor union the Histadrut, which had tried to mediate a compromise between Netanyahu's coalition and opposition parties, has threatened strike action if the government pursues further legislation without agreement.