Greece’s major opposition Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) party continues to keep a razor-thin margin over the ruling New Democracy Conservatives of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, although he holds a commanding margin over his leftist rival, Alexis Tsipras, two new polls show.
One poll, by Kappa research for To Vima’s Sunday newspaper, puts support for SYRIZA at 26.6 percent ahead of ND’s 25.7 percent. The neo-Nazi Golden Dawn is third with 13 percent, followed by the fading PASOK Socialists with 8.8 percent, Independent Greeks with 5.7 percent, the KKE Communist Party with 6.4 percent and Democratic Left (DIMAR) with 4.8 percent. PASOK and DIMAR are junior partners in Samaras’ uneasy coalition government.
But Samaras, who is continuing to impose harsh austerity measures unpopular with voters, has the support of 44.1 percent of them to be the country’s leader with Tsipiras a distant second at 31.8 percent. But 23 percent of voters said they don’t like either one, showing the level of discontent with the country’s direction. Tsipras has continued to rail against austerity measures but offered no alternative.
But while earlier polls showed 95 percent or more of Greeks despise the pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions being put on them to keep international bailouts coming and keep Greece from leaving the Eurozone, 70 percent said they want to stay in the financial bloc, showing the continuing contradiction. And nearly 59 percent said Samaras should be given more time to sort out the financial mess.
A separate poll by Metron Analysis for Eleftherotypia on Sunday shows SYRIZA in first place with 25.8 percent, pushing ND into second place at 25.2 percent. Golden Dawn is third with 11.7 percent, followed by PASOK with 9 percent and Independent Greeks with 8.5 percent. DIMAR has 6.3 percent, less than a percentage point ahead of KKE’s 5.5 percent. At 29 percent, Samaras features as the most suitable leader for premier against Tsipras’s 13 percent.
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