As Zionist Camp leader Isaac Herzog wages a daily, uphill battle for survival within his own party, a Channel 2 survey has dealt him an additional blow. A Sept. 6 poll indicated that Yesh Atid would take the lead as the strongest party in the opposition if elections were held today. Although only a survey, and with elections nowhere on the horizon, this poll has seized the agenda like no other.
For a brief moment during the 2015 election cycle, Herzog had been viewed as a possible alternative to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with the Zionist Camp garnering 24 Knesset seats. Now, however, Herzog heads a party predicted by the poll to win only 13 of the Knesset’s 120 seats. Although Herzog is the current de facto head of the opposition, by virtue of those 24 (real, not virtual) seats in the latest elections, when the Knesset returns from its summer recess in October for the winter session, all eyes will be on Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid as an alternative to Netanyahu.