POLL: Fidesz is the most popular, Jobbik is the strongest opposition party

Among committed voters, the governing alliance of Fidesz and the Christian Democrats has more potential votes in the bag, 54 percent, in the upcoming general election than all the opposition parties combined, according a fresh poll by the pro-government Nézőpont Institute released on Saturday. 

In the survey of 2,000 voting-age adults conducted between January 3 and 21, 40 percent of the entire sample expressed a preference for the ruling alliance, an increase of 3 percentage points compared to Nézőpont’s December reading. The opposing Jobbik party notched up 7 percent, its worst result since 2014, while the Socialists stayed at 5 percent and the leftist Democratic Coalition seems to be stuck at 4 percent.

The green LMP party was preferred by 3 percent and Momentum had the support of 2 percent. The smaller parties, including Párbeszéd and Együtt, each had a backing of 1 percent.

Among decided voters, Fidesz would receive 54 percent, Jobbik 13 percent, the Socialists 9 percent, the Democratic Coalition and LMP 8 percent each, while Momentum would have 3 percent and the other small parties 1 percent each, according to Nézőpont.

They are the most and least popular party leaders

Ferenc Gyurcsány, leader of the leftist Democratic Coalition, and Gábor Vona, head of the radical nationalist Jobbik party, are the least popular party leaders in Hungary, with net approval ratings of 22 percent and 30 percent, respectively, according to the survey by the pro-government Nézőpont Institute.

Based on Nézőpont’s representative sample of 1,000 voting-age adults conducted between January 15 and 18,  released on Sunday, Viktor Orbán, the prime minister and leader of Fidesz, had the highest net approval rating with 54 percent, followed by the candidate for prime minister of the Socialists and Párbeszed, Gergely Karácsony, who had 43 percent.

At the same time, 78 percent of voters who declared themselves left-wing wanted Gyurcsány to “hold an important political position”. Gyurcsány’s poor net result can be explained by that the voters who support the other parties firmly reject him, the institute states.

Vona is in a similar position, according to Nézőpont, with 91 percent of Jobbik voters keen to see their leader in a position of power as opposed to 80 percent of other party voters who spurn him.

The least-disliked party leader is Karácsony, but this may be explained by his recognition index being 19 percentage points lower than Orbán’s, the institute states.

Photo: MTI