POLL – Support for parties mostly unchanged

Budapest (MTI) – No major changes in party support were registered in January, with Fidesz retaining its top spot thanks to a stable support base, think-tank Szazadveg said on Wednesday. The recent decline in support for the ruling Fidesz party and its Christian Democrat ally has halted, according to the Nezopont Institute.

Századvég

The pollster said that support for opposition parties had not changed since the elections but their fragmentation had continued. The ruling parties would confidently maintain their lead even if the left-wing parties formed a coalition, it added.

The poll done between January 15 and 20 showed that among all voters Fidesz enjoyed 30 percent support, as against 29 percent recorded in December last year. At the same time, support for radical nationalist Jobbik increased from 14 percent to 15 percent and support for the Socialists remained unchanged at 11 percent. Green party LMP had 4 percent and DK had 3 percent, both unchanged from December.

The proportion of uncertain voters dropped from 34 percent in December to 33 percent in January.

According to Szazadveg, Fidesz won the 2014 parliamentary election with approximately 2.3 million votes; the January data showed that around 2.4 million people are party sympathisers.

Among decided voters, support for Fidesz grew from 44 percent in December to 45 percent in January, support for Jobbik grew from 22 percent to 24 percent and support for the Socialists from 17 percent to 18 percent in the same period. At the same time, support for LMP fell from 6 percent to 5 percent and for DK it remained unchanged at 4 percent.

The pollster noted that left-wing parties could only overtake Fidesz in the unlikely event they were to team up with Jobbik.

Nézőpont

Fidesz and its junior partner captured 26 percent of Nezopont’s entire sample in January, while the radical nationalist Jobbik party had 17 percent (both unchanged from the previous month). The Socialists added 3 percentage points to stand at 10 percent while backing for the leftist Democratic Coalition stood at 5 percent. Green party LMP would count on 6 percent of voters if an election were held now.

Among decided voters, Fidesz-KDNP was preferred by 40 percent of Nezopont’s sample, while 27 percent favoured Jobbik. The Socialists were backed by 12 percent, DK by 6 percent and LMP by 8 percent.

Respondents who preferred not to declare an opinion and non-voters accounted for 33 percent, according to Nezopont’s telephone survey carried out for Heti Valasz weekly between January 24 and 26 with a representative sample of 1,000 voting-age adults.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters