Despite the Greek government recently announcing a primary surplus and its return to the bond markets, public opinion in the country seems to be somewhat less celebratory.
At the same time, however, there seems to be distrust in SYRIZA and how the party could change things, despite the clear advantage voters give the party in polls ahead of next month’s EU elections. SYRIZA’s 21.8% is a clear lead over New Democracy’s 19.7%, with Golden Dawn on 7.6% and journalist Stavros Theodorakis’ movement “To Potami” with 6.4% of the 1106 Greek households polled by MARC on behalf of the Greek newspaper “Eleftherotypia” on March 27/31.
Communists KKE (5.2%) and center-leftists ‘Elia’ (4.3%) came in fifth and sixth place, respectively, followed by Independent Greeks ANEL (4.2%), DIMAR 3.1%, rightists LAOS 1.5%, Ecological Greens 1.4% and radical leftists ANTARSYA 1.0%. Notably, swing voters make up 23.8% of the poll, more than any single party, indicating a lack of voter faith in any of the party political options presented.
Nearly three-quarters of voters, however, believe that things are still difficult and that there is no reason to be optimistic, while just one in four polled believe that the first signs of growth are visible.
As for the current coalition government, 61.5% of voters express a negative opinion. Only 21.7% think the current government is effective.
Meanwhile, public opinion on SYRIZA is also negative, as 68.9% don’t believe that the party would be able to renegotiate the terms of the current bailout and implement a different economic policy, if it was to become the party of government.
Upon being asked their views of the Greek political leaders in dealing with the the country’s problems, respondents preferred Alexis Tsipras (22.7%) to PM Antonis Samaras (21.6%).
The poll also suggests that potential voters of the new movement “To Potami” would alternatively vote for SYRIZA (11.6%), ANEL (8.4%) and Elia (7.4%).
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